Percutaneous management of reperfusion arrhythmias during primary percutaneous coronary intervention: a case report

BACKGROUND: Myocardial reperfusion may cause profound electrophysiological alterations and can lead to serious reperfusion arrhythmias (RA). Management of RA and the accompanying electrical storm that may occur remains a problem. To our knowledge, the role of balloon re-inflation of the infarct-related artery (IRA) has never been addressed as a treatment modality for RA presenting as ventricular tachycardia (VT) with pulse or supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). CASE PRESENTATION: Six patients presenting with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in the first 12 h, who underwent successful primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), developed RA in the cathlab after restoration of flow in the IRA. The RA was in the form of VT with pulse, except in one patient who had SVT. In four patients, the RA was associated with hemodynamic instability. The mean age of the studied patients was 59.16 ± 7.94 years, and four were males. Coronary artery disease risk factors were prevalent, with four patients being hypertensive, two dyslipidemic, one diabetic, and 2 current smokers. One patient had a history of prior myocardial infarction (MI), and none had a history of congestive heart failure. The coronary angiography showed 100% occlusion of IRA in all patients and 2–3-vessel disease was present in 50%. PCI was successful with restoration of thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) 2–3 flow in IRA in all cases. The mean time to revascularization from the onset of chest pain was 4.88 ± 2.68 h. In all cases, balloon re-inflation was successful in terminating the arrhythmias. None of the patients needed direct current cardioversion or anti-arrhythmic drugs for management of the acute arrhythmia. CONCLUSION: Balloon re-inflation of IRA was successful in terminating RA that develop in the form of VT with pulse or SVT.