Extracorporeal CPR and intra-aortic balloon pumping in tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy complicating cardiac arrest.

Although tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy (TIC) due to atrial fibrillation occurs frequently, it is under-recognized in clinical settings. TIC has a wide range of clinical manifestations, from asymptomatic tachycardia to cardiomyopathy leading to end stage heart failure. We present a case of a 48year-old-woman who presented as cardiogenic shock, and rapidly progressed to cardiac arrest from recently diagnosed but undertreated atrial fibrillation, resulting TIC in the emergency department (ED).

Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation in bedside echocardiography-diagnosed massive pulmonary embolism.

Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is one of the major causes of inhospital cardiac arrest as well as out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Bedside diagnosis of acute PE in the emergency department (ED) can be challenging, especially in a cardiac arrest setting. Even if the early diagnosis of an acute massive PE had been made, hemodynamic instability may be worsened unless obstructive shock gets resolved.