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Ventricular Fibrillation After Intravenous Atropine in a Patient with Atrioventricular Block
Author(s) -
LÁZZARI JULIO O.,
BENCHUGA ELÍAS G.,
ELIZARI MARCELO V.,
ROSENBAUM MAURICIO B.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
pacing and clinical electrophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.686
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1540-8159
pISSN - 0147-8389
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-8159.1982.tb02214.x
Subject(s) - medicine , atropine , ventricular fibrillation , cardiology , ventricular tachycardia , atrioventricular block , anesthesia
A 69‐year‐old black woman with complete AV block developed ventricular fibrillation following an IV injection of 1 mg of atropine sulphate. After a successful DC countershock, the ECG showed a polymorphous ventricular tachycardia which subsided spontaneously. Cardiac catheteriza‐tion revealed a small left ventricular diverticulum and normal coronary arteries. This seems to be the first reported case of atropine‐induced ventricular fibrillation in a patient with complete AV block. The fact that this occurred without previous change of the ventricular rate suggests that the adverse action of atropine was mediated through a mere vagolytic effect at the ventricular level (PACE, Vol. 5, March‐April, 1982)