Two Infants with Life-threatening Arrhythmia Prepared for the Application of Automated External Defibrillator in Their Home

Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery
Vol.25 No.5 2009 (674-680)

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Hisashi Takasugi,¹⁾ Wataru Tamaki,¹⁾ Tetsuya Yano,¹⁾ Masaki Yamamoto,¹⁾ Daisuke Usui,¹⁾ Kenshi Matsushita,¹⁾ Sumitaka Dohno,¹⁾ Mikiya Fujieda,¹⁾ Akiko Ozaki,²⁾ Yoshiko Kurashige,²⁾ and Hiroshi Wakiguchi¹⁾

¹⁾Department of Pediatrics, Kochi Medical School, Kochi University, and ²⁾Department of Pediatrics, Hata Kenmin Hospital, Kochi, Japan

Abstract

We report two infants with life-threatening arrhythmia prepared for the application of a rented AED at home after parental child BLS training using an AED trainer. Case 1 was a 1-year-old girl who was admitted to our hospital because of repeated attacks of ventricular tachycardia with cardiogenic shock in spite of treatment with a β-blocker. Control was achieved with the addition of amiodarone. Case 2 was a boy aged 0 day. Although his arrhythmia had been detected prenatally, ECG monitoring after birth revealed repeated episodes of torsade de pointes, which were controlled by the administration of mexiletin, β-blocker and potassium gluconate. He was diagnosed as having congenital long QT syndrome type 2 by genetic examination. We instructed both parents in child BLS using an AED trainer and prepared for the application of AED at home; scheduled after discharge in case 1 and after the child’s first birthday in case 2. We believe that the application of AED in the home is a useful and valid approach for children with life-threatening arrhythmia.