Applied Bioelectricity: From Electrical Stimulation to Electropathology

Description

Electric currents and electromagnetic fields have been applied to biological systems, particularly humans, with both therapeutic and pathological results. Applied Bioelectricity discusses biological responses to electric currents and electromagnetic fields, including medical applications and shock hazards. The book covers fundamental physical and engineering principles of responses to short-term electrical exposure and emphasizes human reactions, although animal responses to electricity are considered as well. The treatment covers reactions from the just-detectable to the clearly detrimental. An important new chapter discusses standards for human exposure to electromagnetic fields and electric current and demonstrates how these standards have been developed based on the principles treated in earlier chapters. J. Patrick Reilly is a member of the principal staff of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and is President of Metatec Associates. The use of electrical devices is pervasive in modern society. The same electrical forces that run our air conditioners, lighting, communications, computers, and myriad other devices are also capable of interacting with biological systems, including the human body. The biological effects of electrical forces can be beneficial, as with medical diagnostic devices or biomedical implants, or can be detrimental, as with chance exposures that we typically call electric shock. Whether our interest is in intended or accidental exposure, it is important to understand the range of potential biological reactions to electrical stimulation. The subject of this book is applied bioelectricity, that is, biological reactions to electrical forces in situations of practical interest. For that purpose, I have attempted to treat biological reactions with emphasis on human reactions, from the just discernible to the clearly unacceptable. This book treats short-term biological reactions, with special attention to reactions of a detrimental nature. The term "electropathology" is used here to indicate any undesirable biological reaction to electrical stimulation. Whether a biological effect is judged beneficial or detrimental often depends on the context. With controlled medical applications of electrical stimulation, a reaction may be judged to be beneficial; with uncontrolled chance exposure, a similar reaction may be judged to be undesirable.