title: Patients with supraventricular tachycardia presenting with aborted sudden death: incidence, mechanism and long-term follow-up.
abstract: A total of 13 (4.5%) of 290 patients with aborted sudden death had either documented (7; 54%) or strong presumptive evidence of supraventricular tachycardia that deteriorated into ventricular fibrillation. Six (46%) of the 13 had an accessory conduction pathway and either atrial fibrillation (5 patients) or paroxysmal atrioventricular (AV) reentrant tachycardia (1 patient) that deteriorated into ventricular fibrillation. Three patients with AV node reentrant tachycardia and four with atrial fibrillation and enhanced AV node conduction presented with supraventricular arrhythmias that deteriorated into ventricular fibrillation. Patients were treated with medical, surgical or catheter ablative procedures designed to prevent recurrences of supraventricular arrhythmias. Four patients received an implanted automatic defibrillator, but none had an appropriate device discharge. Over a follow-up period of 41.6 +/- 33.6 months, 12 patients are alive without symptomatic arrhythmias. One patient died because of severe chronic lung disease and heart failure. Supraventricular tachycardia was the cause of aborted sudden death in approximately 5% of patients referred for evaluation of sudden cardiac death. Treatment directed at prevention of supraventricular tachycardia was associated with an excellent prognosis. Current treatment techniques appear to obviate the need for automatic defibrillator therapy in these patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco.
authors.forename: Y S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Scheinman
authors.forename: W W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Chien
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Lesh
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Griffin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D001282:Atrial Flutter / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology; D002423:Cause of Death; D004554:Electric Countershock / Q000592:standards; D004562:Electrocardiography; D004594:Electrophysiology; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019736:Prostheses and Implants / Q000592:standards; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012495:San Francisco / Q000453:epidemiology; D013611:Tachycardia, Atrioventricular Nodal Reentry / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D013617:Tachycardia, Supraventricular / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D014927:Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents