Ventricular tachycardia in a disseminated MDR-TB patient: a case report and brief review of literature

Abstract

Although significant breakthroughs have been achieved in tuberculosis management, we still encounter numerous difficulties in diagnosis and treatment of the disease. Additionally, a new challenge, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) with unspecific clinical presentation, often results in delayed diagnosis. In this paper, we reported a case of disseminated tuberculosis with rare presentation of ventricular fibrillation, which proved resistant to both isoniazid and rifampicin. A review of literature showed that ventricular fibrillation or tachycardia in tuberculosis patients with pericarditis or myocarditis has been sporadically reported in the past, but none has been conducted involving patients with MDR-TB infections.

Keywords

tuberculosis / MDR-TB / ventricular tachycardia

References

[1] HillemannD, Rüsch-GerdesS, RichterE. Evaluation of the GenoType MTBDRplus assay for rifampin and isoniazid susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains and clinical specimens. J Clin Microbiol2007; 45(8): 2635-2640

[2] DyeC, WilliamsBG. The population dynamics and control of tuberculosis. Science2010; 328(5980): 856-861

[3] ZhaoY, XuS, WangL, ChinDP, WangS, JiangG, XiaH, ZhouY, LiQ, OuX, PangY, SongY, ZhaoB, ZhangH, HeG, GuoJ, WangY. National survey of drug-resistant tuberculosis in China. N Engl J Med2012; 366(23): 2161-2170

[4] WangJY, HsuehPR, WangSK, JanIS, LeeLN, LiawYS, YangPC, LuhKT. Disseminated tuberculosis: a 10-year experience in a medical center. Medicine (Baltimore)2007; 86(1): 39-46

[5] LiuA, HuY, CoatesA. Sudden cardiac death and tuberculosis — how much do we know? Tuberculosis (Edinb)2012; 92(4): 307-313

[6] SchnitzerR. Myocardial tuberculosis with paroxysmal ventricular tachycardia. Br Heart J1947; 9(3): 213-219

[7] KhuranaR, ShalhoubJ, VermaA, AssomullR, PrasadSK, KoonerJS, SethiA. Tubercular myocarditis presenting with ventricular tachycardia. Nat Clin Pract Cardiovasc Med2008; 5(3): 169-174

[8] BehrG, PalinHC, TemperlyJM. Myocardial tuberculosis. BMJ1977; 1(6066): 951

[9] O’NeillPG, RokeyR, GreenbergS, PacificoA. Resolution of ventricular tachycardia and endocardial tuberculoma following antituberculosis therapy. Chest1991; 100(5): 1467-1469

[10] KirchhofP, EckardtL, HaverkampW, BabaHA, SeidlKH, BorggrefeTM, BreithardtG. Intracardiac tuberculoma causing “idiopathic” ventricular tachycardia in a patient without detectable heart disease. J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol2001; 12(1): 118

[11] ZhuQ, SunG, QianY, LiN. Oxalate crystallization and atrioventricular block: a case report. Bulletin of Jinling Hospital (Jinling Yi Yuan Xue Bao) 1991; 2: 175-176 (in Chinese)

[12] HuangZhimin, WuWeihong, HuangXiaoying. Ventricular tachycardia caused by tubercular pericarditis: a case report. Jiangsu J Pract Electrocardiol (Jiangsu Xin Dian Yu Lin Chuang Za Zhi) 2000; 3:180 (in Chinese)

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg