Adenocard? SVTbut what happens if given in (rapid a-fib rvr)

[Pennyangel]

My husband lost his father last December and we just rxd copies of the med records. We saw where Adenocard was pushed in Rapid A-fib-rvr and not SVT. According to the records the doctor was not in the room and the nurse was following ACLS procedure, but when the doctor came in he states it was Rapid A-fib-rvr and not SVT, maybe he came out of SVT but he had not been dignosed with SVT in 3 days of CCU care. If there was Adenocard pushed and the mistake was made to where it was pushed in Rap a-fib-rvr instead of SVT could this have caused the arrest only a few minutes later. His father was not revived.

[911fltrn]

Sorry to hear about your loss. Adenocard lasts in your system for approximately 6 seconds. In my opinion it is unlikely this caused the arrest. If adenocard causes arrest it happens immediately in my experience. This forum is probably not going to provide you with the information you are looking for. Advanced Cardiac Life Support in the critical care setting is very specialized. If you feel that medical malpractice was involved in this patients care perhaps you should hire a medical consultant to review it. My suggestion is to ask the patients doctor what caused him to die. With out reviewing the complete medical record, no one here is going to be able to provide you with the opinions you seek.

[William_SRNA]

this would not have caused an arrest the half life of adenocard is too short. Sometimes rapid afib in the high 100's can look like svt especially if things are getting hectic and you don't have time to sit and look at a twelve ekg. but they should have either cardioverted or defibrillated and possibly some cardizem. But it all depends on the underlying problem and what else was going on at the time. just my .02 worth

[mommatrauma, RN]

Adenosine is given to help determine what the focus is of an extemely fast heart rate. We often give it to pts in rapid afib b/c the rhythm is going so fast we can't tell it is Afib until we give it...Adenosine is a diagnostic medication, not a treatment...It is used to assist in the differentian of a rapid heart rhythm so that it can be properly treated with the right medications and treatments...Sometimes with SVT it can break the rhythm and it will go back into a normal Sinus rhythm, because of the sort of heart resetting it does...and of course, sometimes it doesn't...It has an extremely short half life like the previous poster stated...Sorry to hear about the loss...