Relationship Between Precatheterization QT Interval and Ventricular Fibrillation During Coronary Angiography

We examined retrospectively angiograms, precatheterization electrograms and records of 10 consecutive patients who had ventricular fibrillation during coronary angiography, and compared these patients to controls matched for age, sex and left ventricular function. Iopromid (0.769 g) was used as the angiographic contrast agent in all instancess. Catheterization findings and the prevalene of prior myocardial infarction were similar in both groups. However, precatheterization corrected QT (QTc) intervals in the ventricular fibrillation group (0.49±0.02s) were significantly longer than in the control group (0.42±0.02s). Prolongation of precatheterization QTc interval in the ventricular fibrillation group was significant (p<0.01). It was concluded that ventricular fibrillation, an important and frequent complication of coronary angiography, has a relationship to prolongation of the precatheterization QTc interval.