Abstract
Pre-excited, fast conducting atrial fibrillation (AF) is a serious life-threatening
arrhythmia that requires urgent pharmacological or electrical cardioversion. When
anti-arrhythmic medications fail to restore sinus rhythm, biphasic, direct current
(DC) cardioversion is required. Appropriate synchronization of the DC shock with the
QRS is crucial, however not easily achieved. Since the QRS-T complexes in pre-excited
AF are severely distorted, the diagnosis of inaccurate synchronization may be overlooked.
Here, we report a unique case where during electrical cardioversion of pre-excited
AF with inappropriate synchronization on the T wave inadvertently resulted in ventricular
fibrillation (VF), and review the literature.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
One-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to The American Journal of Emergency MedicineAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Synchronized cardioversion of unstable supraventricular tachycardia resulting in ventricular fibrillation.Ann Emerg Med. 2004; 44
- Electrical cardioversion resulting in death from synchronization failure.Am J Cardiol. 1994; 74: 100
- Serious cause of panic attack case reports in emergency.Medicine. 2012; https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/393275
- Iatrogenic ventricular fibrillation.Tex Heart Inst J. 2018; 45: 39-41
- Ventricular fibrillation during electrical cardioversion of pre-excited atrial fibrillation.Postgrad Med J. 2003; 79: 297
- Ventricular proarrhythmic effects of ventricular cycle length and shock strength in a sheep model of transvenous atrial defibrillation.Circulation. 1994; 89: 413-422
- Arrhythmic complications of electrical cardioversion: relationship to shock energy.Inter J Cardiol. 2008; 123: 307-312
Article Info
Publication History
Published online: May 16, 2019
Accepted:
May 15,
2019
Received in revised form:
May 10,
2019
Received:
March 9,
2019
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.