Supraventricular tachycardia during spinal anaesthesia for caesarean section.
A woman of 40 weeks' gestation, who was apparently previously healthy, required emergency caesarean section after a failed vacuum delivery. While under spinal anaesthesia she developed a supraventricular tachycardia of unknown origin. Intravenous verapamil resulted in a conversion to sinus rhythm. Further investigations confirmed Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, for which she required ablation therapy. Appropriate methods of cardioversion in this clinical setting are discussed.
Department of Anaesthesia, Groote Schuur Hospital and the University of Cape Town, South Africa. vanzijl@samiot.uct.ac.za
D H
DH
Van Zijl
R A
RA
Dyer
R N
RN
Millar
M F
MF
James