Cardiac arrest with pulseless electrical activity during a robot-assisted distal gastrectomy: A case report

Jeon, Younghoon; Park, Young Hoon; Hwang, Doo Youn; Hong, Seong Wook; Ryu, Taeha; Park, Sung Sik

Case Report

Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia

Anesthesia and Pain Medicine 2012;7(4):329-332.
Published online October 31, 2012.

Cardiac arrest with pulseless electrical activity during a robot-assisted distal gastrectomy: A case report

Younghoon Jeon, Young Hoon Park, Doo Youn Hwang, Seong Wook Hong, Taeha Ryu, Sung Sik Park

¹Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Kyungpook National University School of Dentistry, Daegu, Korea.
²Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Pohang Medical Center, Pohang, Korea.
³Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea. sspark@knu.ac.kr

Abstract

A 59-year-old woman was scheduled to undergo a robot-assisted distal gastrectomy under general anesthesia. During the operation, the vital signs were maintained in normal range. After 7 hours of surgery, the pulse oxymeter graph became flat and the end tidal CO2 concentration suddenly decreased. Palpation of the carotid artery revealed no heart beat but the EKG continued to show sinus rhythm. Pulseless electrical activity (PEA) was diagnosed. An advanced cardiopulmonary life support protocol for PEA was immediately initiated, which included chest compressions and doses of IV cardiovascular drugs. However, in spite of continuous CPR, the heart wasn't recovered from the arrest. We experienced cardiac arrest for pulseless electrical activity during robot-assisted distal gastrectomy.

Key Words: Cardiac arrest, Hypovolemia, Pulseless electrical activity, Robot-assisted distal gastrectomy