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.
Van Zijl
D H
DH
Department of Anaesthesia, Groote Schuur Hospital and the University of Cape Town, South Africa. vanzijl@samiot.uct.ac.za
Dyer
R A
RA
Millar
R N
RN
James
M F
MF