title: Ventricular arrhythmia before and after aorto-coronary bypass surgery.
abstract: The influence of aorto-coronary bypass surgery (ACBS) on ventricular arrhythmia was examined in 57 patients. Six-hour Holter monitoring was done on the day prior to and 3 mth after ACBS. None of the patients were on any antiarrhythmic drugs during these recordings. Ventricular arrhythmia was classified into three groups: Group I (45 patients) had an average of less than 10 premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) per hour, Group II (7 patients), 11-30 PVCs per hour and Group III (5 patients), greater than 30 PVCs per hour. There was no significant change in the number of patients in each group after ACBS. Complex PVCs were present in 8 patients preoperatively and in 9 patients after ACBS. The number of diseased vessels and the extent of left ventricular wall motion abnormality noted preoperatively, had no effect on ventricular arrhythmia following surgery. These data show that ACBS, when performed to relieve angina, does not have a significant effect on the prevalence of PVCs and does not prevent or reduce the occurrence of complex PVCs.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000209:etiology*; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass; D004562:Electrocardiography; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic; D009200:Myocardial Contraction; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology*; D011300:Preoperative Care