A 54-year-old man with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and a family history of sudden death, recipient of a single chamber Medtronic ICD, experienced a shock when using an electric barbecue.
This episode highlights the characteristic observations made in patients who receive therapy for electromagnetic interference : 1) exposure to a source of electricity at the time of the episode, 2) regular signals at 20 ms intervals visible throughout the cardiac cycle, 3) the signal is detected on both the atrial and the ventricular channels (in a dual chamber ICD), and 4) the signal is typically of higher amplitude on the shock than on the RV channel.
The episode is labeled VF and a maximum energy shock is delivered.
