Emergency Defibrillation Using a Temporary Pacing Electrode Catheter

Direct application of electrical current to the heart utilizing special equipment such as implantable defibrillators or specially designed catheters has been useful in patients with recurrent ventricular tachyarrhythmias. We describe a patient who developed intractable ventricular fibrillation (VF) during the course of electrophysiologic testing. VF continued for 50 minutes, during which time multiple transthoracic shocks of 360 joules failed to convert the arrhythmia. Intracardiac shocks were then delivered via a transvenous 6 French standard quadripolar pacing catheter positioned in the right ventricular apex by direct application of the defibrillator paddle to the catheter, with the patient lying on the posterior paddle. Energy of up to 300 joules failed to defibrillate the patient, but use of 360 joules delivered in this fashion defibrillated the patient twice. Despite the protracted time of cardiac arrest, the patient recovered without sequelae. We report this case to demonstrate that VF refractory to transthoracic defibrillation may be converted by intracardiac shocks using a temporary pacing catheter without special equipment.