Ventricular tachycardia in structurally normal hearts: recognition and management.

Idiopathic ventricular tachycardia is a defined set of tachycardias when structural or pathological cause has been ruled out for the same. This paper tries to define and classify these arrhythmias to organize a logical therapeutic approach to deal with them. 60-80% of the idiopathic tachycardias originate from the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) and in 10% from the left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT). Outflow tract tachycardias have either LBBB or RBBB morphology with early R wave transition in chest leads. Adenosine, beta blockers and calcium channel blockers is the common medical treatment. Radiofrequency ablation is however the treatment of choice. Verapamil sensitive left ventricular tachycardia (ILVT) and propranolol sensitive left ventricular tachycardia (IPVT) are the other two forms recognized. RF ablation seems ideal for long-term management of ILVT and implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) for IPVT. Inherited channelopathies include catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT), Brugada syndrome and long QT syndrome where there is an inherited disorder in the ion-exchange channels of the cell-membrane leading to tachycardia. Prognosis in these is variable; CPVT, in particular, has a malignant course when untreated. RF ablation and placement of an ICD are important in the overall management of specific arrhythmia.

Pre-excitation with syncope: a false lead?

An 18-year-old girl with pre-excitation presented with a history of recurrent syncope preceded by palpitation. The accessory pathway, which had a relatively long antegrade effective refractory period of 340 ms, was mapped and successfully ablated in the left lateral region. However, after ablation, she had reproducible sustained polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, which was found to be the cause of her syncope. Thus, alternate mechanisms of tachycardia need to be considered in patients with pre-excitation when the presentation is atypical.

Tetanus in patient with lepromatous leprosy (I).

Tetanus in lepromatous leprosy is rare and reported occasionally as case reports only. We present a case of lepromatous leprosy who succumbed to death due to rapidly progressing tetanus. The mechanism of protection from tetanus in leprosy is discussed.