Makimoto Hisaki, Noda Takashi, Kurita Takashi, Nakajima Ikutaro, Yokoyama Teruki, Doi Atsushi, Yamada Yuko, Okamura Hideo, Satomi Kazuhiro, Aiba Takeshi, Shimizu Wataru, Suyama Kazuhiro, Aihara Naohiko, Kamakura Shiro
Division of Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center, Japan.
Intern Med. 2011;50(21):2591-5. doi: 10.2169/internalmedicine.50.5588. Epub 2011 Nov 1.
This case report describes incessant monomorphic ventricular tachycardia (VT), not torsade de pointes, induced by intravenous amiodarone in a 48-year-old woman with dilated cardiomyopathy. VT was reproducibly triggered by short coupled premature ventricular complex (PVC) with different morphology from VT. After amiodarone infusion, the coupling interval of initiating PVC was prolonged, and moreover, the morphology of initiating PVC became the same as that of VT. Though amiodarone has become the first line drug to treat ventricular tachyarrhythmias in patients with cardiac dysfunction, it is important to be aware of its proarrhythmic effect, which may lead to an electrical storm of monomorphic VT.
