[Treatment of ventricular tachycardia with bypass surgery. A case report]

We report on a 45-year-old man with a 4-year-old myocardial infarction and a history of recurrent syncopes. A monomorphic ventricular tachycardia was inducible during electrophysiologic study. After coronary bypass-grafting ventricular tachycardia was no longer inducible. The patient is now, 6 months after surgery, and without antiarrhythmic drugs, free from recurrence of syncope and has had no spontaneous tachycardia event. Treatment with antiarrhythmic drugs, endocardial resection, and the implantable cardioverter-defibrillator are well established approaches to fight sudden cardiac death. The role of coronary artery bypass-grafting alone in the prevention or suppression of malignant ventricular arrhythmias is debatable, especially in cases of monomorphic ventricular tachycardia. Some of these high-risk patients may well be protected by coronary artery bypass grafting alone.