[Incidents of cutaneous alteration secondary to external electrical cardioversion]

External electrical cardioversion is a technique basically used as treatment of choice in supraventricular arrhythmias, atrial fibrillation standing out for its frequency. This procedure consists in the application of one or several synchronized electrical discharges through the patient's chest to revert cardiac rhythm to sinus rhythm. One of the complications is generally the appearance of the skin alterations, pain or intense local heat. The objectives of this study were to describe the skin lesions that appeared after an external electrical cardioversion procedure and to evaluate the information received by the patients on discharge. A descriptive study was conducted, using a sample of 68 patients who underwent cardioversion between January 1 and December 30 1, 2004. Mean age was 62.71 years, of which 76.5% were males diagnosed of atrial fibrillation in 82.4% of the cases. Erythema appeared in more than 80% of the cases, with the mean duration of 4.76 days. A total of 13.2% developed second-degree burn. Although 92.5% considered written information on the care after the procedure necessary, less than 11% had received it. It is concluded that the prevalence of the skin alterations after cardioversion is elevated, one of the causal factors being lack of information. There is a significant deficiency of knowledge on skin care after the procedure.