IMR Press / RCM / Volume 9 / Issue 2 / pii/1560999978958-1862870931

Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine (RCM) is published by IMR Press from Volume 19 Issue 1 (2018). Previous articles were published by another publisher in Open Access under a CC-BY (or CC-BY-NC-ND) licence, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with MedReviews, LLC.

Open Access Case Review
Acute Pulmonary Edema Associated With Direct Current Cardioversion in a Structurally Normal Heart
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1 Division of Electrophysiology, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland, OH
2020 Department of Medicine, Gandhi Medical College/University of Health Sciences, India
2021 Division of Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN
Rev. Cardiovasc. Med. 2008, 9(2), 137–141;
Published: 30 June 2008
Abstract
The transthoracic application of synchronized direct current cardioversion (DCC) is widely used to terminate atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, and other supraventricular tachyarrhythmia. DCC is a highly effective method for acute restoration of sinus rhythm. Although DCC is a relatively safe and frequently performed procedure, data on potential side effects are very rarely reported in the literature. The most serious com plications associated with DCC are thromboembolism and intracranial hemorrhage. The true incidence of postcardioversion pulmonary edema is not known, but it is esti mated to occur in 1% to 3% of patients, particularly those with coexistent heart dis ease. We report on a patient with a structurally normal heart who developed acute pulmonary edema after undergoing DCC. The patient had no evidence of myocardial injury according to an electrocardiogram and cardiac biomarkers. The patient was treated with intravenous diuretics. After 4 days, the pulmonary edema resolved.
Keywords
Direct current cardioversion
Supraventricular tachyarrhythmia
Sinus rhythm
Acute pulmonary edema
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