Sudden death in a patient with apparent idiopathic ventricular tachycardia.
Idiopathic ventricular tachycardia is widely believed to carry a favorable prognosis, although there have also been reports of sudden cardiac deaths. We present a case of sudden death in a patient with apparent idiopathic right ventricular tachycardia. This patient had long-standing and exercise-related symptoms, an essentially negative non-invasive cardiac evaluation, and spontaneous and inducible ventricular tachycardia of left bundle branch block and inferior axis morphology, that was treated with propranolol. After an uneventful 5-year course, the patient died suddenly. Postmortem examination revealed a severely dilated right ventricle and significant replacement of the right ventricular wall with adipose tissue. Interstitial fibrosis was also seen, but only to a very slight degree.
Tada
H
H
Division of Cardiology, National Cardiovascular Center, Osaka, Japan.
Ohe
T
T
Yutani
C
C
Shimizu
W
W
Kurita
T
T
Aihara
N
N
Kamakura
S
S
Shimomura
K
K
D002037:Bundle-Branch Block / Q000150:complications; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac; D004562:Electrocardiography; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D017180:Tachycardia, Ventricular / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*