Ewha Med J.  2014 Sep;37(2):112-115. 10.12771/emj.2014.37.2.112.

Early Repolarization Syndrome with Idiopathic Ventricular Fibrillation

• Lee JE
• Ham HJ
• Lee KY
• Roh JW
• Yu JS
• Chung WB

• KMID: 2171293
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.12771/emj.2014.37.2.112

Abstract

Early repolarization is a common electrocardiographic (ECG) feature found in young adults, men and athletes, and has been considered to be a benign feature for the last several decades. But recent studies suggest that early repolarization may be related to idiopathic ventricular fibrillation and sudden cardiac death. We report a young man, 35 years old, who had life threatening ventricular fibrillation and sudden cardiac arrest. He was evaluated for cardiac causes of ventricular fibrillation. There was no explanation other than that his ECG showed an early repolarization pattern so we treated him with implantable cardioverter defibrillator. Thus, we suggest that early repolarization may be related with life threatening ventricular arrhythmia.

Keyword

Early repolarization; J wave syndrome; Ventricular fibrillation

MeSH Terms

Arrhythmias, Cardiac
Athletes
Death, Sudden, Cardiac
Defibrillators
Electrocardiography
Humans
Male
Ventricular Fibrillation*
Young Adult

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Electrocardiography monitoring upon patient arrival. Ventricular fibrillation is observed during.

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  Fig. 2 Flelctrocardiogram. J point elevation (early repolarization pattern) with QRS notching is observed in inferior lead II, III, aVF, lateral lead I and precordial lead V4-6.

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  Fig. 3 Electrocardiography. Osborn wave is observed in inferior lead II, III, aVF.

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