Reversal of Supraventricular Tachycardia with Aberration afte Initiation of Pseudoanalgesia with Propofol: Case Report

Abstract

Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is a heterogeneous group of arrhythmias used to describe tachycardias involving cardiac tissue at or above the level of the bundle of His. They usually appear in subjects without structural heart disease. However, they can sometimes cause palpitations, dyspnea, sweating, angina, or vague chest discomfort, particularly in patients with underlying heart disease. We present the case of a patient with SVT reverted during pseudonalgesia with propofol. This is a 48-year-old male patient who came for presenting a sensation of intense palpitations, an electrocardiogram was taken where the presence of wide QRS tachycardia was observed. It was decided to administer procedural sedation for synchronized electrical cardioversion, however, he presented cardioversion upon administration of propofol 50 mg (Fig 1B) after 5 minutes, improving the symptoms. Studies of propofol have described its influence on the cardiac conduction system and the ability to modify the phases of the action potential by acting on the ion channels of the myocyte membrane. Therefore, it would be interesting to see case series from large centers and electrophysiology studies that show the possible antiarrhythmic role of drugs such as propofol not described in the literature.