A 44-year-old man with severe cardiomyopathy, an LVAD, chronic amiodarone therapy, and an AICD presents with palpitations. His ECG shows a regular wide-complex tachycardia, but the rate is only 135….
Key Points: Junctional tachycardia is an uncommon supraventricular tachycardia arising from the AV junction, usually due to enhanced automaticity rather than reentry. It is usually a regular narrow-complex tachycardia, although…
Key Points: Junctional rhythms arise from the AV junction, usually the AV node or proximal His bundle, when the sinus node slows, fails, or impulses do not reach the ventricles…
An 81-year-old woman presents with lightheadedness and marked bradycardia. Her ECG shows more P waves than QRS complexes, but the mechanism is not immediately clear. The key question is whether…
A 60-year-old woman presents with palpitations and an irregular wide-complex tachycardia. The computer calls atrial fibrillation with a left bundle branch block, but a subtle clue in the precordial leads…
Key Points: Pacemaker syndrome is a hemodynamic problem caused by loss of proper atrioventricular (AV) synchrony. Most commonly occurs with ventricular pacing that produces retrograde atrial activation, but can also…
Key Points: Ventricular pacing changes depolarization and repolarization, so ST-T segments often look abnormal. In most paced rhythms, some discordant ST deviation is expected and should not be mistaken for…
Key Points: AV block refers specifically to delayed or failed conduction of impulses from the atria to the ventricles. AV block is classified by the ECG pattern of conduction: First-degree…
Key Points: LBBB does not exclude acute coronary occlusion. LBBB produces abnormal depolarization and expected secondary ST-T changes, which can mask or mimic ischemia. Acute OMI can still be recognized…
A 68-year-old man has syncope, then has a second syncopal episode while lying still on a stretcher during evaluation at an outpatient clinic. He is sent emergently to the ED….
Key Points: Isorhythmic AV dissociation is a form of AV dissociation in which the sinus rate and junctional or ventricular escape rate are nearly identical, making the P waves and…
Key Points: Third-degree AV block is complete failure of atrial impulses to conduct to the ventricles. The defining ECG feature is AV dissociation with no conducted P waves. The atrial…
Key Points: Mobitz I is defined by progressive PR prolongation until a single P wave fails to conduct, after which the cycle resets. The block is usually at the AV…
Key Points: Second-degree AV block with 2:1 conduction means every other P wave conducts and every other P wave is blocked. A single ECG with 2:1 conduction usually cannot be…
Key Points: First-degree AV block is defined by a PR interval greater than 200 ms with fixed 1:1 AV conduction and no dropped QRS complexes. It usually reflects delayed conduction,…
Key Points: Mobitz II is defined by sudden failure of AV conduction after at least 2 consecutive conducted beats with fixed PR intervals and no preceding PR prolongation. The block…
Key Points: Atrial flutter is a supraventricular tachyarrhythmia caused by a macro-reentrant circuit, most commonly typical cavotricuspid isthmus-dependent flutter in the right atrium. The atrial rate is usually about 250-350…
Key Points: Advanced or high-grade AV block is a severe second-degree AV block with 2 or more consecutive non-conducted P waves, such as 3:1 or 4:1 conduction. Do not force…
A 53-year-old man presents with palpitations and lightheadedness. The following ECG is obtained on arrival and appears very rapid and irregular with changing QRS morphologies. He starts showing signs of…
A young man with recurrent palpitations presents to the emergency department hemodynamically stable during an episode. The arrival ECG shows a wide complex, regular tachycardia and the computer interpretation calls…