Background: Idiopathic ventricular tachycardia (VT) is a rare form of arrhythmia in neonates that can be life-threatening prompting its timely diagnosis and importance of treatment to avoid serious complications i-e; heart failure.

Case Presentation: We describe a neonate with an incessant idiopathic ventricular tachycardia presented with heart failure and severe left ventricular dysfunction. This infant presented with poor feeding, irritability, increase work of breathing, and heartbeat of 260/min. The electrocardiogram (ECG) showed wide complex tachycardia and the echocardiogram showed a structurally normal heart with dilated cardiomyopathy. The clinical signs and chest X-ray changes were consistent with cardiac failure but preserved peripheral perfusion.

CONCLUSION:

Ventricular tachycardia in young population is rare with overall good prognosis. However, it can be life threating if it remains unnoticed and undiagnosed for longer period. The risk is substantially high in resource limited countries because of paucity of health facilities and personnel who can diagnose it. Moreover, the choice of medications is limited for management in acute situations. This presentation, the sustained VT and the global cardiac failure makes the treatment challenging; therefore, early diagnosis of incessant VT in neonate is important for better prognosis.

KEYWORDS: Idiopathic ventricular tachycardia, Neonate, Normal heart, Heart failure

Dr Rumana Sangi is a  Paediatric Cardiologist at Aga Khan University Hospital, karachi, Pakistan. She has worked as Paediatric Cardiologist at National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Karachi and done double fellowship in Paediatrics and Paediatric Cardiology from College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan. She has national and international extensive publications. She bears position as Assistant Editor in Pakistan Heart journal. She is also a Member Of  Pakistan Cardiac Society