[Successful resuscitation after energy drink consumption in a patient with unknown right ventricular dysplasia]

This case report describes a 28-year-old man who successfully underwent cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for ventricular fibrillation after consuming an energy drink containing a nonlethal dose of caffeine. The caffeine-naive patient, without previously known diseases, had rapidly drunk 3 cans of an energy drink (480 mg caffeine, i.e., an amount he had never consumed before according to his own statement) after a football training before he collapsed lifelessly and required resuscitation. After successful CPR, the patient was admitted to the intensive care unit and extubation was carried out on the following day. In parallel, differential diagnostic cardiological procedures were carried out. These revealed a previously unknown right ventricular dysplasia, so that after exclusion of an accessory atrioventricular conduction pathway in the electrophysiological examination, a single chamber implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) for secondary prevention was implanted. The patient was discharged home without neurological deficits on day 14 after hospital admission. This case presentation is intended to show that the consumption of caffeine-containing energy drinks, even in a nonlethal dose, can be potentially dangerous in the presence of an unknown cardiac disease, even if physical performance is not impaired.