Ventricular fibrillation as a primary manifestation of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome

Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW) is defined as a condition involving an accessory pathway associated with symptoms. A typical ECG pattern of a pre-excitation shows a short PQ interval, presence of delta wave and a broad QRS complex on surface ECG. The underlying mechanism involves an accessory pathway, which enables conduction of a depolarization wave from atria to ventricles bypassing the AV node and predisposes to arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. The most common arrhythmia in patients with WPW syndrome is atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia. However, it is not present in all patients with pre-excitation [1], [2], [3], [4]. Up to 1/3 of patients with AVRT experience atrial fibrillation, which may be conducted to ventricular myocardium via the accessory pathway and lead to a life-threatening ventricular fibrillation. The most effective treatment of the WPW syndrome is a radiofrequency catheter ablation [2], [5], [6], [7], [8]. This paper describes a case of a 40-year-old woman after a cardiopulmonary resuscitation for ventricular fibrillation, which was a primary manifestation of the WPW syndrome. It focuses on pathophysiology, clinical pattern and treatment possibilities of patients with WPW syndrome.