Ventricular fibrillation (VF) and transient arrhythmias after defibrillation were analyzed from the recordings of 28 patients containing at least one episode of ventricular fibrillation. An R-on-T extrasystole initiated VF in 60% of the episodes. Other initiating factors were a late premature beat (24%), stable ventricular tachycardia (VT) (7%), accelerating idioventricular rhythm (5%) and cardioversion of VT (5%) with a sinusoidal waveform. After the initiating beat, in most cases, evidence was found of a transient ventricular tachycardia which then deteriorated into VF. With a stable VT this may occur after a long time; in the case of apolymorphic VT (with changing amplitude) it generally occurred within 30 s. The main transient arrhythmias generated by circulatory arrest during VF and by the defibrillation shock were: total arrest, total AV-block and/or bradycardia. The combination of a longer duration of VF and a high energy level generally resulted in an increase in the duration of these arrhythmias (P less than 0.01, N = 30). Comparison of episodes of VT and VF recorded in a single patient also shows that arrhythmias are more unfavourable and of longer duration after VF than after VT. These data emphasize fast defibrillation, initially with stored energy levels less than 250J.