Arrhythmias Flashcards
What is an arrhythmia?
Disturbances of cardiac rhytms
How do you treat an unstable patient?
3 shocks
Amiodarone injection
What could a narrow QRS complex (<0.12s) indicate?
Atrial fibrilation
Atrial flutter
Supraventricular tachycardia
how would you treat supraventricular tachycardia?
Vagal manoeuvres
Adenosine
What would a wide QRS complex (>0.12s) indicate?
Ventricular tachycardia
How would you treat Ventricular tachycardia?
Amiodarone infusion
What is atrial flutter?
Electrical signals re-enter atria in a self-perpetuating loop
What happens in ventricular fibrillation?
- The electrical signals in the ventricles are not coordinated causing a loss of contractual ability
- Ventricular walls spasm, causing blood to stay in ventricles and not be pumped to the rest of the body
What can cause ventricular fibrilation?
Oxygen deprivation
Conduction abnormality
What are the symptoms of ventricular fibrilation?
Unconsciousness
- no blood going to the brain
No pulse
- no forward movement of blood
What are the risk factors for ventricular fibrilation?
- CAD
- Electrolyte imbalance
- MI
- Cardiomyopathy
What is ventricular tachycardia?
Heart beats so fast that the heart does not have enough time to fill properly causing a reduced volume of blood being ejected from the heart
What is focal ventricular tachycardia?
Ventricular cells become irritated causing them to over-fire, sending more impulses to the ventricular conduction system
Ventricles contract rapidly
What is reentrant ventricular tachycardia?
Scar formation means that electrical current cannot pass through dead cells, it has to go around them and it does so continuously
Every time electrical signal goes around it spreads the signals to the cells causing them to contract
What are the symptoms of ventricular tachycardia?
- Shortness of breath
- Dizziness / faint
- Chest pain
- Palpitations
What does ventricular tachycardia show up like on an ECG?
- Wide QRS complexes (>0.12s / >3 small boxes)
- HR >100bpm
What are the causes of ventricular tachycardia?
- CAD
- Electrolyte imbalance ( high K, low Ca, low Mg)
- MI
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
- Dilated cardiomyopathy
What is a cardiomyopathy?
Disease of heart tissue that causes loss of heart function
What is supraventricular tachycardia?
Abnormally high heart rate origination from or above the AV node
What happens in supraventricular tachycardia?
Electrical signals re-enters atria from ventricles -> AV node -> stimulates ventricular contraction
What are the symptoms of supraventricular tachycardia?
- Palpitations
- Chest pain
- Anxiety
- Shortness of breath
- Dizziness
What does supraventricular tachycardia show up like on an ECG?
Narrow QRS complex (<0.12s / < 3 small boxes)
What are the risk factors for supraventricular tachycardia?
- COPD
- Pulmonary embolism
- Alcoholism
- Hyperthyroidism
What is atrial fibrilation?
Loss of unified electrical signals causing atrial spasming
