CIRCULATORY ARREST IN PATIENTS WITH COMPLETE HEART BLOCK DURING ANESTHESIA AND SURGERY

Abstract
Circulatory and respiratory arrest took place in 6 of 22 individuals with heart block undergoing operation. There were no fatalities. The patients, in the older age groups, were poor risks because of the underlying heart disease. With 1 exception the patients with circulatory arrest had had prior Adams-Stokes attacks and all but 1 underwent major operations. Circulatory arrest was precipitated by a number of factors but general anesthesia in some, local anesthesia in another, and reflex initiation of arrest in several seemed obvious.