New-onset Ventricular Tachyarrhythmias After Cardiac Surgery: Significance and Treatment

摘要

Many cases of sudden death are caused by sustained ventricular tachyarrhyth-mias: new-onset ventricular tachycardia (VT) and ventricular fibrillation (VF) are infrequent but dreaded postoperative complications after cardiac surgery.Ventricular arrhythmias, such as isolated ventricular premature beats or non-sustained VT, occur commonly after cardiac surgery and do not seem to have an adverse effect on prognosis [1]. In contrast, sustained VT and VF are life-threatening events, bearing quite a high postoperative mortality [2]. VT is defined by the occurrence of three or more consecutive premature ventricular complexes. A VT is termed 'sustained' when it lasts more than 30s or when it causes cardiovascular collapse. Two principal types of VTs have been described after cardiac surgery: monomorphic VT, with uniform QRS morphology, and polymorphic VT, with a typical beat-to-beat variability in QRS morphology. VF is defined as a ventricular rhythm with no discernable QRS complexes.