Unexpected Ventricular Fibrillation During a Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Examination Documented With...

Unexpected life-threatening arrhythmias, even when occurring in hospital, are frequently ill documented, hindering a proper understanding of their mechanism.

We present a patient with coronary artery disease who developed an episode of ventricular fibrillation during a cardiovascular magnetic resonance examination. The arrhythmia appeared immediately after the injection of a contrast agent during a quantitative myocardial perfusion sequence at rest, with no stressor agent involved.

To our knowledge, this is the first episode of ventricular fibrillation documented with simultaneous electrocardiographic, physiological recordings, and quantitative myocardial perfusion data. Such unique information allowed for a comprehensive analysis of the sequence of facts preceding the final arrhythmia and, in consequence, provided a well-reasoned conclusion on its mechanism.