Abstract
A case of cardiac arrest that may have been caused by lidocaine was described. A 70-year-old male with bifascicular block was scheduled for aortic valve replacement. Anesthetia was induced with fentanyl, vecuronium and isoflurane uneventfully. During the procedure of pulmonary arterial catheter insertion, cardiac standstill followed by sinus bradycardia occurred within a few minutes after administration of a 1, 5 mg•kg-1 lidocaine that was given for the treatment of ventricular premature complexes. The patient's heart beat was restored after 10 min ordinary cardiopulmonary resuscitation. We concluded that the cardiac arrest was caused by lidocaine because (1) cardiac arrests caused by lidocaine have been reported in the patients complicated with heart block, (2) the fashion of the cardiac arrest in this patient, viz., cardiac standstill followed by sinus bradycardia, is alike to previously reported lidocaine-induced cardiac arrest, (3) we did not recognize any eventful response after administration of drugs except with lidocaine, and because (4) hemodynamic or electrocardiographic findings were uneventful before the cardiac arrest occurred.
