[Short coupled variant of "torsades de pointes" and sudden death]. / Torsade de pointes a couplage court compliquee d'une mort subite.

A case report of 38 year old man who experienced syncope and torsade de pointes is presented with the short coupled variant. The patient had a normal QT interval (QTC: 0.37 seconds) and multiform ventricular premature beats on the resting electrocardiogram. Under antiarrhythmic treatment (intravenous xylocaine), torsades de pointes suddenly appeared and cardiac arrest was followed. After cardioversion, sinus rhythm was restored. A cardiovascular disease was excluded, the echocardiography, the left and right ventricular angiography and coronarography were normal. Three months after, the patient presented at home a sudden cardiac death.

[Use of an implantable defibrillator for the prevention of sudden death in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy]. / Cardiomyopathie hypertrophique: implantation d'un defibrillateur automatique implantable chez un patient a haut risque de mort subite.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is an inherited muscle disorder disease. Sudden death is the most dreaded complication, risk stratification is of critical importance and patients with high risk should receive an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). We report the case of 26 years old man affected by a severe form of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Our patient falls into a high risk category because of his young age, massive left ventricular hypertrophy and family history of premature death due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Considering his risk of dying sufficiently high, we proceed to percutaneous ICD under local anesthesia. Evolution was favorable after 3 months follow up.

[Radiofrequency ablation of periatriotomy atrial flutter after interatrial defect surgical repair]. / Ablation par radiofréquence d'un flutter auriculaire périatriotomie compliquant la réparation chirurgicale d'une communication inter-auriculaire.

We report a successful ablation of reentrant atrial tachycardia complicating atrial septal defect repair. This tachyarrhythmia was poorly tolerated hemodynamically and difficult to control with antiarrhythmic drug therapy and atrial pacing. Ablation therapy has focused on extending a line of block from the surgical incision to the inferior veno cava. Immediate success was achieved and the patient is free of arrhythmia after 4 months of Follow-up.