Tachydysrhythmias Flashcards
What is tachycardia?
Resting heart rate of > 100 bpm in adults
General Approach to tachycardia: Is the patient stable or unstable?
- Monitor in high acuity area with continuous cardiac and vitals monitoring
- Assess responsiveness and pulse. If pulseless, begin CPR
- ABCs, set IV plug
- Assess for clinical features of UNSTABLE patient: Chest pain, Hypotension, AMS, Pulmonary edema, Shock (CHAPS)
- 12 lead ECG if patient is stable
Ddx for:
Narrow, regular complex tachycardia
- Sinus tachycardia
- Supraventricular tachycardia
- Atrial flutter with fixed conduction
- Atrial tachycardia
Ddx for:
Narrow, irregular complex tachycardia
- Atrial fibrillation (**most common)
- Atrial flutter with varying conduction
- Multifocal atrial tachycardia
Ddx for:
Wide, regular complex tachycardia
- Monomorphic ventricular tachycardia
- Metabolic/Drug
- SVT with antidromic conduction through an accessory pathway
- SVT with abberancy/bundle branch block
- Any narrow, regular tachycardia with a bundle branch block
Pathophysiology of Atrial Flutter
An atrial re-entrant rhythm that overrides the sinus node leading to atrial depolarisation at a rate of 300/min as seen as flutter waves in ECG resulting in saw toothed baseline.
Due AV nodal refractory period, conduction to the ventricles (ventricular depolarisation) occurs at regular intervals in 2:1 or 3:1 ratio, resulting in a ventricular rate of 150 or 100 beats per minute.
Sinus tachycardia: Key Features
- Narrow, regular complex tachycardia
- Normal-looking P wave before every QRS complex
Sinus tachycardia: Causes
- Physiological e.g. exercise, infection, pyrexia, dehydration
- Emotional: Pain, Anxiety
- Emergencies: acidosis, pulmonary embolism, cardiac tamponade, significant bleeding with hypovolaemia
- Hyperthyroidism
- Medications
Sinus tachycardia: Treatment
Treat underlying cause
Atrial Flutter: Key Features
*narrow, regular or irregular complex tachycardia
- Saw toothed baseline flutter waves in some of the leads
- Lack of TP segment in the leads with a saw toothed pattern
- Ventricular rate typically about 100 or 150 bpm
- Rhythm is regular in cases with fixed conduction ratio
- If the conduction ratio varies, then the rhythm is irregular
Pathophysiology of Atrial Fibrillation
Many ectopic atrial foci depolarising almost simultaneously (fibrillating), hence ventricular depolarisation occurs irregularly.
- Reentrant Circuits: The disorganized impulses lead to the formation of reentrant circuits within the atria. These circuits continuously stimulate different parts of the atrial myocardium, causing the atria to fibrillate (quiver) rather than contract effectively.
- Impaired Conduction: The rapid, irregular impulses overwhelm the atrioventricular (AV) node, which tries to regulate the transmission of impulses to the ventricles but often cannot keep up. This results in an irregular ventricular response rate.
Atrial Fibrillation: Key Features
- Irregularly irregular rhythm
- Fine or coarse fibrillatory waves may be present. Coarse waves may mimic P waves
- Absence of P waves before every QRS complex
- Absence of isoelectric baseline
Atrial Flutter/Fibrillation: Treatment
- Treat reversible causes - infection, AMI, thyrotoxicosis, alcohol, acute PE, myocarditis
- Rate control
a. No HF
- Diltiazem
- Verapamil
- Esmolol
- Metoprolol
- Procainamide
b. HFpEF
- CCB or BB
c. HFrEF
- Amiodarone
- Digoxin - Start anticoagulants if patient’s CHA2DS2VASc is 2 or more
CHA2DS2VASc score
Congestive heart failure
Hypertension
Age >/= 75 years
Diabetes mellitus
Stroke/TIA/thromboembolism
Vascular disease (prior MI, PAD, aortic plaque)
Age 65-74years
Sex category: Female
Supraventricular tachycardia
It refers to all atrioventricular tachydysrhythmias that occurs above the ventricles (Bundle of His) and the types of SVT depends on the source of the electrical signal
- AVNRT, AVRT, atrial flutter/fibrillation, atrial tachycardia
