Exam 14: Origin and Clinical Aspects of Ventricular Dysrhythmias

Your 48-year-old patient is complaining of chest pain and palpitations. You attach the ECG monitor to reveal tachycardia at a rate of 110 beats per minute with frequent early beats. The early beats appear wide and bizarre, have a T wave that takes an opposite direction to the QRS complex and are not preceded by a P wave. As you watch the ECG monitor you note the beats are occurring "every other beat." This patient is experiencing:

An R-on-T PVC:

Premature ventricular complexes (PVCs):

Ventricular tachycardia has:

Ventricular tachycardia is said to be present when there are ___ or more PVCs in a row.

With an idioventricular rhythm the pacemaker site is in the:

When every fourth beat is a PVC, it is called ______ PVCs.

Idioventricular rhythm is often the first organized rhythm following defibrillation.

Which of the following has an organized electrical rhythm but no pulse?

Features common to ventricular dysrhythmias are:

Two PVCs in a row is called a ______ of PVCs.

Characteristics of idioventricular rhythm include:

Ventricular tachycardia:

Torsades de pointes is:

A 51-year-old male was working out at the gym when he suddenly experienced lightheadedness. The ECG monitor reveals a regular rhythm of wide and bizarre-looking QRS complexes at a rate of 90 beats per minute. The QRS complexes are followed by a T wave that takes an opposite direction to the R wave. Also, there are no P waves. This patient is experiencing:

When a PVC occurs the first thing you see as you look across the ECG tracing is:

The Purkinje fibers:

Characteristics of premature ventricular complexes include that they:

Uniformed PVCs arise from different sites in the ventricles and tend to look different from one another.

Ventricular dysrhythmias can be life threatening because the ventricles are ultimately responsible for cardiac output.