[Clinical heart arrest after emergency "direct current" cardioversion of atrial flutter]

A rare case of clinical cardiac arrest after acute DC cardioversion is presented. The patient was a 64-year-old man with acute haemodynamically unstable atrial flutter. He was known to have had episodes of atrial flutter requiring DC cardioversion, and he was treated with propafenone (300 mg twice daily). Synchronised DC cardioversion resulted in cardiac arrest. Resuscitation was initiated and after 2-3 minutes the patient regained sinus rhythm and pulse. There were no sequelae. We conclude that cardiac arrest is a rare complication to DC cardioversion.