A fascinating electrophysiology case. What is this wide complex tachycardia, and how best to manage it?
The patient is female in her 80s with a medical hx of previous MI with PCI and stent placement. She also has a hx of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and is on oral anticoagulant treatment. She had a single chamber ICD/Pacemaker implanted several years prior due to ventricular tachycardia. The last echocardiography 12 months ago showed HFmrEF.She presented to the emergency department after a couple of days of chest discomfort. The ECG below was recorded. What is your assessment? How would you manage this patient?The ECG was interpreted as showing atrial flutter with 2:1 conduction. The patient was deemed stable and...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - January 10, 2024 Category: Cardiology Authors: Magnus Nossen Source Type: blogs
Continuous prolonged generalized weakness, lightheadedness, and presyncope. What might you suspect from the ECG?
A young man presented with continuous prolonged generalized weakness, lightheadedness, and presyncope. There was some dyspnea but no chest pain. Here is his ECG. This shows LVH, with high voltage.LVH can have very thick-walled ventricles and a correspondingly small LV cavity. LVH is a common etiology of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, as it may results in a stiff ventricle with poor diastolic relaxation.See this articles: Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (NEJM review)One etiology of LVH on the ECG is Hypertrophic Cardiolmyopathy (HOCM), and sometimes ECGs in pa...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - October 28, 2023 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
A 50-something with Regular Wide Complex Tachycardia: What to do if electrical cardioversion does not work?
Case submitted by anonymous. Written by Smith. Ken ' s piece at the bottom is excellent.A 50-something presented with sudden onset palpitations 8 hrs prior while sitting at desk at work. He had concurrent sharp substernal chest pain that resolved, but palpitations continued.Over past 3 months, he has had similar intermittent episodes of sharp chest pain while running, but none at rest. Past medical history includes coronary stenting 17 years prior. A brief chart review revealed his most recent echo in 2018, with LV EF 67%, “very small” inferior wall motion abnormality.Initial ED ECG:What do you think?This wa...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - September 20, 2023 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
A 50-something with Regular Wide Complex Tachycardiaa: What to do if electrical cardioversion does not work?
Case submitted by anonymous. Written by Smith. Ken ' s piece at the bottom is excellent.A 50-something presented with sudden onset palpitations 8 hrs prior while sitting at desk at work. He had concurrent sharp substernal chest pain that resolved, but palpitations continued.Over past 3 months, he has had similar intermittent episodes of sharp chest pain while running, but none at rest. Past medical history includes coronary stenting 17 years prior. A brief chart review revealed his most recent echo in 2018, with LV EF 67%, “very small” inferior wall motion abnormality.Initial ED ECG:What do you think?This wa...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - September 20, 2023 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
Calcium-Channel Blockers For High Blood Pressure: Types, Side Effects, Drug Interactions
Conclusion
In a nutshell, calcium-channel blockers are a valuable tool in the medical arsenal for treating a range of cardiovascular conditions.
By inhibiting calcium’s entry into the heart and blood vessel cells, these drugs induce blood vessel dilation and relaxation, reducing blood pressure.
Their unique properties and effectiveness make them especially suitable for groups like older adults and people of African descent, and those with conditions like angina, certain arrhythmias, and Raynaud’s disease.
Even with the possibility of side effects and drug interactions, calcium-channel blockers are g...
Source: The EMT Spot - July 24, 2023 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Michael Rotman, MD, FRCPC, PhD Tags: Blood Pressure Source Type: blogs
Wide complex tachycardia and hypotension in a 50-something with h/o cardiomyopathy -- what is it?
A 50-something male with unspecified history of cardiomyopathy presented in diabetic ketoacidosis (without significant hyperkalemia) with a wide complex tachycardia and hypotension.Bedside echo showed " mildly reduced " LV EF.Here is the ED ECG:What do you think?Analysis: there is a wide complex tachycardia. It is regular. There are no P-waves. The morphology is of RBBB and LAFB. The initial part of the QRS is very fast, suggesting that it starts in conducting fibers and not in myocardium. Thus, it is probably SVT with aberrancy (RBBB + LAFB) or it is posterior fascicular VT (which starts in the pos...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - June 23, 2023 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
20-something with huge verapamil overdose and cardiogenic shock
A 20-something presented after a huge verapamil overdose in cardiogenic shock. He had been seen at an outside institution and been given 6 g calcium gluconate, KCl, and a norepinephrine drip.The initial K was 3.0 mEq/L and ionized calcium was 5.5 mg/dL (sorry, Europeans, for the weird units)Here was the initial ED ECG:There is a junctional rhythm with retrograde P-waves (see the dip in the T-wave in lead II across the bottom; you can follow that up to all the other leads and see the retrograde P wave). There is also Left Bundle Branch Block (LBBB). There is huge proportionally excessively discord...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - May 26, 2023 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
Localisation of Ventricular Tachycardia by Surface ECG
Surface ECG can be used to identify the site of origin of ventricular tachycardia. QRS morphologic patterns and vectors are helpful in discerning the activation pattern of the myocardium. Chest wall deformity as well as metabolic and drug effects can cause limitations in analysis sometimes [1]. Identification of site of origin of VT is useful while planning catheter ablation. It is also useful in correlating with the clinical situation as in post myocardial infarction scar related VT. Another instance is for correlation with findings on imaging modalities like echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging [2].
F...
Source: Cardiophile MD - April 23, 2023 Category: Cardiology Authors: Johnson Francis Tags: General Cardiology Source Type: blogs
What is strange about this paroxysmal atrial fibrillation in an otherwise healthy patient? And what happened after giving ibutilide?
Conclusions.The efficacy of transthoracic cardioversion for converting atrial fibrillation to sinus rhythm was enhanced by pretreatment with ibutilide. However, use of this drug should be avoided in patients with very low ejection fractions. (N Engl J Med 1999;340:1849-54.) Smith comments from the full text: They included patients who had had a fib for less than 48 hours They excluded patients with a fib for longer than 48 hours unless they proved, by TE echo, to not have an atrial thrombus OR unless they anti-coagulated them for 3 weeks first *Therefore, our patients who have been in afib< 48 hours, or who h...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - March 13, 2023 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
What is the role of Disopyramide in HCM?
Disopyramide is a class Ia antiarrhythmic agent which can be used in hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy when beta blockers alone are ineffective. Disopyramide has a negative inotropic action and is useful in reducing left ventricular outflow tract gradients in hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy and does not increase the risk of sudden cardiac death. Dose reduction is recommended when QTc exceeds 480 ms. It should be avoided in those with glaucoma and men with prostatic symptoms in view of its anticholinergic action. Anticholinergic action is responsible for increase in ventricular rate with atrial fibrillation. ...
Source: Cardiophile MD - November 24, 2022 Category: Cardiology Authors: Johnson Francis Tags: General Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Which type of beta blocker is not ideal for HOCM?
Vasodilating beta blockers are not an ideal choice for the treatment of hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy.
Non vasodilating betablockers are recommended for the treatment of hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (Class I, Level of Evidence B, as per European Society of Cardiology Recommendations 2014). Other class I drug recommendation when beta blockers are not tolerated is verapamil. Disopyramide has a class I recommendation in combination with betablocker or verapamil.
Reference
1. Elliott PM, Anastasakis A, Borger MA, Borggrefe M, Cecchi F, Charron P, Hagege AA, Lafont A, Limongelli G, Mahrholdt H, McKenna W...
Source: Cardiophile MD - November 24, 2022 Category: Cardiology Authors: Johnson Francis Tags: General Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Digoxin amiodarone interaction
Important drugs which can increase the levels of digoxin are quinidine, verapamil, amiodarone and dronedarone [1]. The dose of digoxin should be halved with concomitant use of verapamil, amiodarone or dronedarone. Drugs with high levels of protein binding displace digoxin from protein binding sites and increase the effective blood levels of digoxin. Monitoring of plasma digoxin levels and frequent evaluation for signs and symptoms of digoxin toxicity are recommended while using these drugs in combination with digoxin, when that combination is deemed essential.
Another reason for caution while combining digoxin and amiodar...
Source: Cardiophile MD - November 20, 2022 Category: Cardiology Authors: Johnson Francis Tags: General Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Back to basics: what is this rhythm? What are your options for treating this patient?
Written by Bobby Nicholson MD, with edits by Meyers, Smith, GrauerA woman in her early 40s presented to the emergency department for evaluation of palpitations. She reported that she has been experiencing this since she was diagnosed with COVID a little over 1 week ago. She reported a prior history of SVT and has previously performed vagal maneuvers at home with symptom resolution. She reports that she is now unable to vagal out of her palpitations and is having shortness of breath and dull chest pain. Her initial EKG is below.We see a regular tachycardia with a narrow QRS complex and no evidence of OMI or subend...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - October 25, 2022 Category: Cardiology Authors: Pendell Source Type: blogs
Weekly Australian Health IT Links – 16 May, 2022.
Here are a few I have come across the last week or so. Note: Each link is followed by a title and a few paragraphs. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment. General Comment ----- A pretty quiet week it seemed to me this time. Any major news I missed? ----- https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/gps-need-reliable-discharge-summary-system-concludes-inquest?brandTid=0 GPs need 'reliable' discharge summary system, concludes inquest An elderly patient's GP was left unaware that she had been prescribed both metoprolo...
Source: Australian Health Information Technology - May 16, 2022 Category: Information Technology Authors: Dr David G More MB PhD Source Type: blogs
An asymptomatic man in his 50s with heart rate in the 160s - what is the diagnosis? How will you manage this?
Written by Pendell MeyersA man in his late 50s with history of CAD with CABG, COPD, smoking, cirrhosis, and other comorbidities presented for an outpatient scheduled stress test which had been ordered for some exertional shortness of breath, palpitations, and presyncopal episodes over the past few months. When he presented to the office for the stress test, his screening vitals before any test or intervention were remarkable only for a heart rate of 160 bpm. He denied any symptoms whatsoever.A 12-lead ECG was performed in the office:What do you think?The ECG shows a wide complex regular monomorphic tachycardia. I mea...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - April 2, 2022 Category: Cardiology Authors: Pendell Source Type: blogs
