title: Cerebral thromboembolism after direct current cardioversion for pure atrial flutter.
abstract: The need for prophylactic anticoagulation before electrical cardioversion for atrial arrhythmias is clearly established in the case of atrial fibrillation. By contrast, such prophylaxis is not a current standard of care before cardioversion for pure atrial flutter, since this arrhythmia seems not to increase the risk of postcardioversion embolism. We present a patient who developed two cerebral embolisms 24 h after electrical cardioversion for pure atrial flutter. To our knowledge, this observation has not been previously reported.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Hôpital des Cadolles, CH-2000 Neuchatel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liaudet
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kehtari
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Enrico
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001282:Atrial Flutter / Q000628:therapy*; D004554:Electric Countershock / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D006801:Humans; D002542:Intracranial Embolism and Thrombosis / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed