[Cardiac arrest reversed: causes and treatments]

The aim of this study was to report the probable mechanism of resuscitated cardiac arrest without acute myocardial infarction. Fifty-seven cases were recensed but the arrest was only documented in 44 subjects. Systematic non-invasive investigations and programmed stimulation showed that the diagnosis of cardiac arrest was probably false in 5 patients and, in the others, that a ventricular arrhythmia was probably the cause (63%). The occurrence of cardiac arrest under antiarrhythmic therapy may reveal an underlying abnormality requiring specific therapy (3/8). The absence of cardiac disease did not exclude the risk of VF (3 cases). When reproducible, ventricular arrhythmias were present during programmed stimulation, the prognosis was good if the arrhythmia could not be induced under antiarrhythmic therapy. It was easier to find an effective treatment for inducible ventricular fibrillation-flutter (13/17) than for inducible ventricular tachycardia (7/17). The prognosis was poor if the arrhythmia was unchanged during programmed stimulation under antiarrhythmic therapy and non-pharmacological treatment was required.