Premature ventricular contractions are generally referred to as ventricular premature beats, and anesthesia for premature ventricular beats may carry the risk of worsening arrhythmias and low blood pressure if they occur during frequent episodes.
Premature ventricular contractions are a relatively common arrhythmia in which an electrical impulse is sent from any part of the ventricle or from an ectopic rhythmic point in the septum before the impulse from the heart’s sinus node reaches the ventricles, resulting in depolarization of the ventricles. Premature ventricular contractions can occur in normal people and in patients with a variety of heart conditions.
If anesthesia is performed during frequent episodes of ventricular premature beats, it may lead to further aggravation of the arrhythmia, such as turning ventricular premature beats into ventricular tachycardia, or even the risk of inducing ventricular fibrillation; in addition, it may lead to a decrease in cardiac ejection, hypotension, or even hypotensive shock.
Therefore, frequent episodes of ventricular premature beats should be actively treated before using anesthesia to avoid serious complications.