Salvage application of secondary blood cardioplegia in intractable ventricular fibrillation

t b r N THIS CENTER, the authors use hyperkalemic cardioplegia solution (HCS) routinely for inducing cardiac arrest for yocardial protection during cardiac surgery. Arrhythmias menable to correction by pharmacologic agents and counterhock measures are frequently encountered during weaning rom cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Management of intractale ventricular fibrillation (VF) by the use of secondary carioplegia, although a known entity, has rarely been discussed fter the pioneering work in 1980s. A case report in which this echnique was used with success is presented, and mechanisms ontributing to it are discussed.