Cardiac Arrest from Postpartum Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection

<p>We present the case of a 32-year-old woman who presented to the emergency department with a witnessed cardiac arrest. She was otherwise healthy with no cardiac risk factors and had undergone an uneventful repeated cesarean section 3 days priorly. The patient underwent defibrillation, out of...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Dick Kuo, Ngoc Anh Nguyen, Malford T Pillow
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: eScholarship Publishing, University of California 2011-05-01
Series:Western Journal of Emergency Medicine
Subjects:
Online Access:http://escholarship.org/uc/item/4gz1s8xh
Description
Summary:<p>We present the case of a 32-year-old woman who presented to the emergency department with a witnessed cardiac arrest. She was otherwise healthy with no cardiac risk factors and had undergone an uneventful repeated cesarean section 3 days priorly. The patient underwent defibrillation, out of ventricular fibrillation to a perfusing sinus rhythm, and was taken to the catheterization laboratory where coronary angiography findings showed spontaneous dissection of the left anterior descending artery. The patient received a total of 6 stents during her hospital stay and was eventually discharged in good condition. Spontaneous coronary artery dissection is a rare entity with a predilection for pregnant or postpartum women. Early diagnosis and treatment are key for survival, and when identified early, mortality is good. [West J Emerg Med. 2011;12(4):567–570.]</p>
ISSN:1936-900X
1936-9018