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Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators Save Lives from Lightning‐Related Electrocution Too!
Author(s) -
KONDUR ASHOK K.,
AFONSO LUIS C.,
BERENBOM LOREN D.,
LAKKIREDDY DHANUNJAYA R.
Publication year - 2008
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.1540-8159.2007.00980.x
Subject(s) - medicine , asystole , ventricular fibrillation , electrocution , implantable cardioverter defibrillator , cardiology , defibrillation , shock (circulatory) , medical emergency , fibrillation , atrial fibrillation
We report an unusual case of a 75‐year‐old male electrocuted by lightning strike rescued by implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) shock coincidentally. Lightning strikes are an unusual cause of fatal cardiac arrhythmias. Depending on the amount of energy and the current vector affecting the heart, the arrhythmia burden ranges from asystole to ventricular fibrillation.