[Comparative study of ischemia-induced and reperfusion-induced ventricular fibrillation in pigs]

To have a better understanding of reperfusion-induced ventricular fibrillation (VF), we studied the relevant morbidity in pigs and compared it with that of the ischemia-induced VF. In 10 hearts of anesthetized chest-open pigs, a total of 127 cycles of various degrees and varied duration of ischemia and reperfusion were completed. VF occurred 13 times (10.2%). Of these, 11 were ischemia-induced VF, while only 2 were reperfusion-induced VF. In two cases of ischemia-induced VF, electric defibrillation failed before the reestablishment of left anterior interventricular branch of coronary artery flow, but after adequate reflowing, all VF turned out to be sinus-rhythm by electric defibrillation. The results suggest that ventricular fibrillation be mainly induced by ischemia but less induced by reperfusion.