Chapter 3 Flashcards
What can result from blockage of the RCA?
Inferior wall MI and/or disturbances in AV nodal conductions
Occlusion of what artery is called the widow maker?
Occlusion of the left main coronary artery
What can result from blockage of the circumflex artery?
lateral wall MI
in some patients, occlusion of the circumflex can also lead to a posterior wall MI
increased blood concentration of what electrolytes will decrease automaticity?
Decreased sodium, potassium and calcium
decreased concentrations of what electrolytes will increased automaticity?
K+ and Ca2+
What is the term that describes the ability of cardiac muscle cells to respond to an external stimulus, such as that from a chemical, mechanical or electrical source?
Excitability (irritability)
What is the term that describes the ability of a cardiac cell to receive and electrical impulse and conduct it to an adjoining cardiac cell?
Conductivity
Via intercalated disks
What’s the term that describes the ability of myocardial cells to shorten, thereby causing cardiac muscle contraction, in response to electrical stimuli
Contractility
The state when the inside of a cell is more negative than the outside of the cell
Polarized state
What causes depolarization
movement of sodium into the cell
Where does depolarization occur in the heart
depolarization proceeds from innermost later of the heart to the outermost layer (endocardium –> Epicardium)
What on the ECG represents ventricular repolarization?
ST segment and T wave
what occurs after the relative refractory period and allows a weaker-than-normal stimulus to cause cardiac cells to depolarize?
Supranormal period
seen at the end of the T wave
- because the cell is more excitable than normal, dysrhythmias can develop during this period
What’s the primary pacemaker and what’s its intrinsic rate?
SA node, 60-100 bpm
What are the bpm of the different pacemakers?
SA node: 60 - 100 bpm
AV junction: 40 - 60 bpm
Purkinje fibers: 20 - 40 bpm
What heart surface is viewed from the three standard limb leads?
Lead I - lateral heart
Leads II and III - inferior heart
What heart surface is viewed from each of the augmented leads?
aVR - non
aVL - lateral
aVF - inferior
Where is lead V1 placed?
4th intercostal space on the R next to the sternum
Where is lead V2 placed?
4th intercostal space on the L next to the sternum
Where is lead V4 placed?
left midclavicular line in the 5th intercostal space
If time doesn’t permit obtaining all of the R chest leads, which is the lead of choice?
V4R
What leads view the inferior surface of the heart?
II, III, aVF
What leads view the septal surface of the heart?
V1, V2
What leads view the anterior surface of the heart?
V3, V4
What leads view the lateral surface of the heart?
I, aVL, V5, V6
how much time does a 1mm box stand for?
0.04 second
how much time does a large box stand for?
0.2 seconds (contains 5 x 1 mm boxes)
how many mV does the height of one block correspond to?
0.1 mV for each 1 mm box
What signifies a pathological Q wave?
Abnormal Q waves are more than .04 s in duration or more than one-third the height of the following R wave in that lead
What length of WRS time signifies and incomplete or complete BBB?
normal - 0.11 s
incomplete - .10 - .12
complete - more than or equal to .12
What causes a wide QRS?
When an electrical impulse doesn’t follow the normal ventricular conduction pathway it takes longer to depolarize the myocardium = delay in conduction through the ventricle
What interval represents total ventricular activity?
QT interval
What’s the normal length of a PR interval?
0.12 to 0.20 seconds
What is the normal rate?
60-100 bpm
In respiratory sinus arrhythmia, when does HR increase and when does it decrease?
HR increase during inspiration
HR decrease during expiration
when would you use synchronized cardioversion in tachycardia?
When the patient is unstable and they have a pulse and serious signs and symptoms due to the tachycardia
what rhythms are included in supraventricular arrhythmias?
Rhythms that being in the SA node, atrial tissue or the AV junction
What heart rate is considered tachycardic in adults, children and infants?
Adults 101 - 180bpm
Children >160 bpm
infants >200 bpm
How should you treat a tachycardia?
Never shock a sinus tachycardia! treat the cause of the tachycardia
What are the 3 types of supraventricular tachycardias?
- Atrial tachycardia
- AV nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT)
- AV reentrant tachycardia (AVRT)
What can cause palpitations that occur regularly and with a sudden onset and end?
AVNRT or AVRT
What can cause irregular palpitations?
premature complexes, atrial fibrillation, or multifocal atrial tachycardia
What is considered a sustained rhythm?
When it lasts more than 30 seconds
Whats the DOC for patients with atrial tachycardia when vagal maneuvers don’t work?
Adenosine
do not use in patietns with severe asthma
What type of CCB are diltiazem and verapamil?
non-dihydropyridines
What type of CCB are nifedipine and amlodipine?
Dihydropyridines
CCBs that affect the peripheral vasculature resulting in peripheral vasodilation with little or no effect on the SA or AV nodes
Dihydropyridines
CCBs that decrease HR and myocardial contractility, slow conduction through the AV node and have some peripheral arteral dilatory effects as well.
Non-dihydropyridines
What are the major adverse effects of CCBs?
hypotension, worsening heart failure, bradycardia, and AV block
what’s the most common type of supraventricular tachycardia?
AVNRT
If you have a stable but symptomatic patient with AVNRT that is not responding to vagal maneuvers, what treatment should you use?
Adenosine
If you have an unstable symptomatic patient with AVNRT how should you treat them?
oxygen, IV access and sedation (if the patient is awake and time permits), followed by synchronized cardioversion
What is a regular, narrow-QRS tachycardia that starts or ends suddenly called?
Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia
What is called when rhythms originate from about the ventricles but in which the impulse travels via a pathway other than the AV node and bundle of His?
pre-excitation
What pre-excitation syndromes are prone to Atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia?
Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and Lown-Ganong-Levine syndrome
what is the accessory pathway in WPW syndrome?
Kent bundle
Connects the atria directly to the ventricles
What is the accessory pathway in Lown-Ganogn-Levine syndrome?
James bundle
Connects the atria directly to the lower portion of the AV node (bypassing the AV node)
What arrhythmia is associated with a short PR interval, a delta wave and widening of the QRS?
WPW syndrome
What is a common cause of junctional tachycardia?
Digitalis toxicity
What duration of the QRS is considered a wide-QRS tachycardia?
0.12 s or more
What is the first drug you should give a stable patient with a regular rhythm and a monomorphic wide QRS tachycardia but you are unsure of the origin?
Adenosine
if the rhythm is Ventricular Tachycardia, what effect will Adenosine have?
No effect in most cases
If a wide-QRS rhythm is actually a SVT with aberrancy, what will adenosine administration do?
Adenosine will usually result in transient slowing or conversion to a sinus rhythm
What pharmacological therapies can you use for pharmacologic termination of a stable wide-QRS tachycardia that is most likely VT?
Procainamide, Amiodarone, or Sotalol
These drugs are considered first line antiarrhythmics for monomorphic VT
If a patient presents with serious signs and symptoms caused by a tachycardia, should you make a specific diagnosis of the origin of the tachycardia?
No, the diagnosis of the origin of the tachycardia is irrelevant, the patient requires immediate electrical therapy (synchronized cardioversion)
What’s the most common cause of delayed ventricular conduction?
BBB
What are the criteria for a Right BBB?
- The QRS must have an abnormal duration
- The QRS complex must arise as the result of supraventricular activity (excluding ventricular beats and paced ventricular complexes)
- Look at lead V1
- Check the last .04 seconds of the QRS and it should be positive for a R BBB
What are the criteria for a Left BBB?
- The QRS must have an abnormal duration
- The QRS complex must arise as the result of supraventricular activity (excluding ventricular beats and paced ventricular complexes)
- Look at lead V1
- Check the last .04 seconds of the QRS and it should be negative for a L BBB
What is the rhythm when three or more ventricular beats occur in a row at a rate of 41 - 100 beats/min
Accelerated idioventricular rhythm
When do you see an accelerated idioventricular rhythm?
It occurs most often in the setting of acute MI, most often during the first 12 hours. particularly common after successful reperfusion therapy
What is seen with 3 or more premature ventricular complexes occurring in immediate succession at a rate greater than 100 bpm?
Ventricular tachycardia
A rapid, wide QRS rhythm associated with pulselessness, shock or heart failure should be presumed to be what until proven otherwise?
Ventricular tachycardia
do patients with sustained monomorphic VT often have underlying heart disease?
Yes, particularly myocardial ischemia. It rarely occurs in patients without underlying heart disease
T or F: sustained VT does not always produce signs of hemodynamic instability
TRUE
How do you treat a pulseless patient with VT?
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation
How should you treat patients with stable but symptomatic VT?
- Oxygen (if indicated)
- IV access
- Ventricular antiarrhythmics like procainamide, sotalol or amiodarone
note: don’t use procainamide in patients with prolonged QT or signs of heart failure. Don’t use sotalol in patients with prolonged QT interval
How should you treat patients with unstable VT?
- oxygen
- IV access
- sedation (if awake and time permits) followed by synchronized cardioversion
What rhythms are considered irregular tachycardias?
Multifocal atrial tachycardia
Atrial flutter
Atrial Fibrillation
Polymorphic ventricular tachycardia
What is the name for when you have a wandering atrial pacemaker where the size, shape and direction of the P waves vary and the rate is greater than 100 bpm?
Multifocal atrial tachycardia