Ventricular fibrillation

Ventricular fibrillation (V-fib or VF) is when the heart quivers instead of pumping due to disorganized electrical activity in the ventricles. It is a type of cardiac arrhythmia. Ventricular fibrillation results in cardiac arrest with loss of consciousness and no pulse. This is followed by death in the absence of treatment. Ventricular fibrillation is found initially in about 10% of people in cardiac arrest. Ventricular fibrillation (V-fib or VF) is when the heart quivers instead of pumping due to disorganized electrical activity in the ventricles. It is a type of cardiac arrhythmia. Ventricular fibrillation results in cardiac arrest with loss of consciousness and no pulse. This is followed by death in the absence of treatment. Ventricular fibrillation is found initially in about 10% of people in cardiac arrest. Ventricular fibrillation can occur due to coronary heart disease, valvular heart disease, cardiomyopathy, Brugada syndrome, long QT syndrome, electric shock, or intracranial hemorrhage. Diagnosis is by an electrocardiogram (ECG) showing irregular unformed QRS complexes without any clear P waves. An important differential diagnosis is torsades de pointes. Treatment is with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation. Biphasic defibrillation may be better than monophasic. The medication epinephrine or amiodarone may be given if initial treatments are not effective. Rates of survival among those who are out of hospital when the arrhythmia is detected is about 17% while in hospital it is about 46%. Ventricular fibrillation is a cause of cardiac arrest. The ventricular muscle twitches randomly rather than contracting in a co-ordinated fashion (from the apex of the heart to the outflow of the ventricles), and so the ventricles fail to pump blood around the body – because of this, it is classified as a cardiac arrest rhythm, and patients in V-fib should be treated with cardiopulmonary resuscitation and prompt defibrillation. Left untreated, ventricular fibrillation is rapidly fatal as the vital organs of the body, including the heart, are starved of oxygen, and as a result patients in this rhythm will not be conscious or responsive to stimuli. Prior to cardiac arrest, patients may complain of varying symptoms depending on the underlying cause. Patients may exhibit signs of agonal breathing, which to a layperson can look like normal spontaneous breathing, but is a sign of hypoperfusion of the brainstem. It has an appearance on electrocardiography of irregular electrical activity with no discernable pattern. It may be described as 'coarse' or 'fine' depending on its amplitude, or as progressing from coarse to fine V-fib. Coarse V-fib may be more responsive to defibrillation, while fine V-fib can mimic the appearance of asystole on a defibrillator or cardiac monitor set to a low gain. Some clinicians may attempt to defibrillate fine V-fib in the hope that it can be reverted to a cardiac rhythm compatible with life, whereas others will deliver CPR and sometimes drugs as described in the advanced cardiac life support protocols in an attempt to increase its amplitude and the odds of successful defibrillation. Ventricular fibrillation has been described as 'chaotic asynchronous fractionated activity of the heart' (Moe et al. 1964). A more complete definition is that ventricular fibrillation is a 'turbulent, disorganized electrical activity of the heart in such a way that the recorded electrocardiographic deflections continuously change in shape, magnitude and direction'. Ventricular fibrillation most commonly occurs within diseased hearts, and, in the vast majority of cases, is a manifestation of underlying ischemic heart disease. Ventricular fibrillation is also seen in those with cardiomyopathy, myocarditis, and other heart pathologies. In addition, it is seen with electrolyte imbalance, overdoses of cardiotoxic drugs, and following near drowning or major trauma. It is also notable that ventricular fibrillation occurs where there is no discernible heart pathology or other evident cause, the so-called idiopathic ventricular fibrillation. Idiopathic ventricular fibrillation occurs with a reputed incidence of approximately 1% of all cases of out-of-hospital arrest, as well as 3–9% of the cases of ventricular fibrillation unrelated to myocardial infarction, and 14% of all ventricular fibrillation resuscitations in patients under the age of 40. It follows then that, on the basis of the fact that ventricular fibrillation itself is common, idiopathic ventricular fibrillation accounts for an appreciable mortality. Recently described syndromes such as the Brugada Syndrome may give clues to the underlying mechanism of ventricular arrhythmias. In the Brugada syndrome, changes may be found in the resting ECG with evidence of right bundle branch block (RBBB) and ST elevation in the chest leads V1-V3, with an underlying propensity to sudden cardiac death. The relevance of this is that theories of the underlying pathophysiology and electrophysiology must account for the occurrence of fibrillation in the apparent 'healthy' heart. It is evident that there are mechanisms at work that we do not fully appreciate and understand. Investigators are exploring new techniques of detecting and understanding the underlying mechanisms of sudden cardiac death in these patients without pathological evidence of underlying heart disease.