Supraventricular tachycardia in association with diabetic ketoacidosis

iabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a common acute complica- tion of type 1 diabetes mellitus. It has a significant mortality in itself, but also precipitates many complications. We present the cases of two teenage female diabetic patients who presented in DKA and concurrent supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). Arrhythmias are not recog- nised as a common precipitant or complication of DKA. Paroxysmal SVT can be due to many different abnormalities of impulse formation. It has an incidence of approximately one to three cases per 1,000 persons. The most common type in teenagers is AV nodal re-entrant tachycardia; this type is diag- nosed in 50-60% of all cases of narrow complex tachycardia. 1