The present invention includes a method for cardiac defibrillation, especially low-voltage defibrillation, in a subject, including converting fibrillation into tachycardia and using feedback or an estimation thereof from the heart to time stimuli to occur when large amounts of tissue are excitable in the heart of the subject. The resultant tachycardia can then be terminated using a tachycardia termination protocol known to or conceivable by one of skill in the art. The method can be implemented using a currently available defibrillator or an internal cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) configured to apply a lower voltage shock, such as a far-field stimulation. A device designed especially for the method or another device employing this method can also be used. Because the proposed defibrillation method requires less energy than current approaches using single biphasic stimulus, defibrillator battery life is improvable or battery size decreasable. The method reduces pain and cellular damage resultant from traditional defibrillation.
