Indication of implantable cardioverter defibrillator after sudden death by ventricular fibrillation in preoperative cataract: a case report.

Abstract

Introduction: Ventricular fibrillation is a potentially fatal event. We describe herein a case of cardiac arrest during preoperative of cataract surgery in a patient, referred to implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) for secondary prevention of sudden cardiac death (SCD) afterwards. A 72-year-old man was admitted for cataract surgery with dilated cardiomyopathy of unknown etiology (DCM). The patient presented hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism and dyslipidemia. Preoperative medication consisted of eyedrops of phenylephyne, proximetacaine and tropicamide. The patient developed ventricular fibrillation (VF) and cardiac arrest right after the administration of the eyedrops. which was reverted after 13 minutes of reanimate maneuvers. The patient was referred to the Cardiac Pacing Unit of our institution for evaluation. Cardiac MRI showed no myocardial fibrosis and coronary angiography was normal. Conclusion: We describe a case of in-hospital VF, in a patient without arrhythmogenic anatomical substrate. The most likely mechanism of ventricular arrhythmia was hyper automatism induced by preoperative stress. The ICD was implanted for secondary prevention SCD, considering controllable or reversible causes were ruled out.