The sternum as an electrical shield

Abstract

The sternum offers significant 'shielding' effect and protects the tissues posterior to it against effects of electrical current flow from anteriorly-placed CEW electrodes.

Infection Risk From Conducted Electrical Weapon Probes: What Do We Know?

“…The vast majority of penetrations are not into bone and hence there is minimal concern of osteomyelitis. The most common bone penetration is that of the sternum but that is <1% of probe applications .…”

“…Pulses with an electric field strength greater than 400 V/mm may cause irreversible electroporation of cell membranes . More specifically, Sano et al have shown that with 2μs pulses, an electric field strength of 400 V/mm resulted in > 90% cell death .…”

“…The model was 25 cm long, 5 cm wide, and 2.2 cm deep; the darts were 20 cm apart. To estimate worst-case E (electrical)-field intensity, the FEM simulated conditions corresponding to subjects with unrealistically thin layers of fat as previously published (14). The probes were assumed fully penetrated into tissue.…”

“…Pulses with an electric field strength greater than 400 V/mm may cause irreversible electroporation of cell membranes (14)(15)(16)(17). More specifically, Sano et al have shown that with 2ls pulses, an electric field strength of 400 V/mm resulted in > 90% Because bacterial cell walls are constructed differently than typical human cell membranes, it might be expected that higher E-field intensities would be needed to break them down electrically and, thereby, render them nonviable (17).…”