Electrophysiological markers predicting impeding AV-block during ablation of atrioventricular nodal reentry tachycardia.

Background: Radiofrequency (RF) ablation of the slow pathway (SP) in atrioventricular nodal reentry tachycardia (AVNRT) is occasionally complicated with atrioventricular block (AVB) often predicted by junctional beats (JB) with loss of ventriculo-atrial (VA) conduction.

Methods: We analyzed retrospectively 153 patients undergoing ablation of SP for typical AVNRT. Patients were divided into two age groups: 127 ≤ 70 years and 26 > 70 years.

Electrical storm in a patient with Duchenne muscular dystrophy cardiomyopathy triggered by abrupt β-blocker interruption.

We present a case of a young man with Duchenne muscular dystrophy cardiomyopathy (DMDC) having an implantable cardioverter defibrillator for secondary prevention, who presented with electrical storm shortly after β-blocker interruption. The patient was stabilized and remained free of ventricular arrhythmias soon after reinitiating b-adrenoreceptor antagonists. The present case highlights the importance of sympathetic blockage in patients with DMDC due to existing pathophysiology of excess diastolic Ca leak from sarcoplasmic reticulum as a result of ryanodine receptor dysfunction.

Sudden cardiac death with stress and restraint: The association with sudden adult death syndrome, cardiomyopathy and coronary artery disease.

Objective: The aim of this study was to report on sudden cardiac death (SCD) during or immediately after a stressful event in a predominately young cohort.

Methods: This study used retrospective non-case-controlled analysis. A total of 110 cases of SCD in relation to a stressful event such as altercation (45%), physical restraint (31%) in police custody (10%), exams/school/job stress (7.

Anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA), a forgotten congenital cause of sudden death in the adult.

Anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) is a very rare often fatal congenital coronary artery anomaly that occurs in approximately only 1 of 300,000 live births. Many cardiologists and pathologists may be unaware that cardiac ischemia and sudden death can also occur due to ALCAPA in adults in whom it is even rarer and thus may be missed at autopsy. The adult form may range clinically from asymptomatic to sudden cardiac death.