Intra-Cardiac Arrest Use of Stellate Ganglion Block for Refractory Ventricular Tachycardia.
J Emerg Med
; 64(5): 628-634, 2023 05.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37061458
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Refractory ventricular dysrhythmia, or electrical storm, is a cardiac condition consisting of three or more episodes of ventricular dysrhythmia resistant to treatment within a 24-hour period. These dysrhythmias carry high morbidity and mortality if not diagnosed and abated promptly. When traditional resuscitative algorithms fail to return a patient to a perfusing rhythm, providers need to consider other, more novel techniques to terminate these dangerous dysrhythmias. One approach is the use of a stellate ganglion block, which has been documented in the literature only a handful of times for its resuscitative use in cardiac arrest. CASE SERIES This case series details two cases from an urban emergency department (ED) in a large metropolitan city, where the use of ultrasound-guided stellate ganglion blocks during cardiac arrest provided successful ablation of the tachydysrhythmia. The first case involves a patient who went into cardiac arrest while in the ED and was found to be in refractory pulseless ventricular tachycardiawhile. The second case describes a patient who went into a witnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest while with emergency medical services. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS? The stellate ganglion block is a procedure currently being used as a treatment modality for a variety of neurologic, psychological, and cardiac conditions. This intervention may provide a viable and lifesaving option for emergency physicians to adopt when traditional resuscitative algorithms fail to break resistant ventricular tachydysrhythmias.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Autonomic Nerve Block
/
Tachycardia, Ventricular
/
Heart Arrest
/
Heart Diseases
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
Limits:
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
J Emerg Med
Journal subject:
MEDICINA DE EMERGENCIA
Year:
2023
Document type:
Article