Concealed Sinus Node Dysfunction and Paradoxical Effect of Atropine during Arrhythmia Diagnostic Pharmacological Testing

A 78-year-old male patient presented with repetitive fainting episodes. His electrocardiogram showed sinus rhythm with persistent ventricular bigeminy. Concealed sinus node dysfunction (SND) with consecutive bradycardia-induced ventricular hyperexcitability was suspected. Pharmacological testing wit...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Myriam Karam, Antoine Kossaify
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2014-01-01
Series:Clinical Medicine Insights: Case Reports
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.4137/CCRep.S18122
Description
Summary:A 78-year-old male patient presented with repetitive fainting episodes. His electrocardiogram showed sinus rhythm with persistent ventricular bigeminy. Concealed sinus node dysfunction (SND) with consecutive bradycardia-induced ventricular hyperexcitability was suspected. Pharmacological testing with atropine resulted in accelerated junctional rhythm along with nearly total disappearance of the ventricular ectopy. The diagnosis of SND was retained, a dual chamber pacemaker was implanted, and consequently, ventricular hyperexcitability disappeared. The junctional rhythm was a paradoxical effect of atropine, and many explanations were provided. Discussion was made accordingly taking into account relevant data from the literature.
ISSN:1179-5476