A Recalcitrant Electrical Storm and Implantable Defibrillator Exhaustion: Treatment Implications According to and Beyond Guidelines

Christos Kontogiannis; Georgios Georgiopoulos; Christos Papageorgiou; Hector Anninos; Konstantinos Tampakis; Marinos Kosmopoulos; Panagiotis Vasileiou; Ioannis Kanakakis; Ioannis Paraskevaidis; Sofia Chatzidou

doi:10.1016/j.jaccas.2019.09.016

A Recalcitrant Electrical Storm and Implantable Defibrillator Exhaustion: Treatment Implications According to and Beyond Guidelines

JACC Case Rep. 2019 Oct 23;1(4):602-606. doi: 10.1016/j.jaccas.2019.09.016. eCollection 2019 Dec.

Affiliation

¹ Department of Clinical Therapeutics, "Alexandra" Hospital, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.

Abstract

A 60-year-old patient presented with recalcitrant electrical storm (ES). Mild sedation and initial antiarrhythmic combination of esmolol and amiodarone did not affect the intensity of ES, which resulted in battery exhaustion. Oral propranolol in addition to intravenous amiodarone might be preferred in hemodynamically stable patients before interventional therapies. (Level of Difficulty: Intermediate.).

Keywords: ES, electrical storm; HF, heart failure; ICD, implantable cardioverter-defibrillator; ICU, intensive care unit; IV, intravenous; VF, ventricular fibrillation; VT, ventricular tachycardia; beta-blocker; electrical storm; implantable cardioverter defibrillator; ventricular arrhythmia.

Publication types

Case Reports