Ventricular fibrillation caused by massive right coronary air embolism: a case report
Hongcai Zhang1, Ai-Ling Huang2, Qian Nie1
1Department of Cardiology, Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, People's Republic of China.
Background:
Coronary air embolism is a rare but severe complication of coronary interventions.
Case Presentation:
We present a case of a massive air embolism in the right coronary artery during percutaneous coronary intervention, resulting in ventricular fibrillation. The patient was successfully resuscitated with electric defibrillation, leading to full recovery and TIMI 3 coronary flow. The final fractional flow reserve showed no residual coronary microvascular dysfunction.
Conclusion:
Our finding suggests that inducing strong myocardial contractions with a cardioverter defibrillator may effectively disperse large air emboli and restore coronary circulation.
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