Ventricular pseudo-bigeminy due to sustained myoclonus.
An elderly unconsciocus patient with anteroseptal myocardial infarction showing ventricular pseudo-bigeminy (artifact) due to sustained myoclonus is reported. The reason why the artifacts coincided with his cardiac contraction is not clearly understood. The artifact is completely eliminated following intravenous injection of succinylcholine chloride. This is the first reported case of such a puzzling electrocardiographic finding to our knowledge. It is extremely important to distinguish between a true and pseudo-arrhythmia. Otherwise, an erroneous diagnosis frequently leads to an erroneous therapeutic approach.
D000368:Aged; D004562:Electrocardiography; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D009207:Myoclonus / Q000150:complications*; D014693:Ventricular Fibrillation / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*