What is the criteria for ventricular tachycardia?

What is the criteria for ventricular tachycardia?

Ventricular tachycardia refers to a wide QRS complex heart rhythm — that is, a QRS duration beyond 120 milliseconds — originating in the ventricles at a rate of greater than 100 beats per minute. This can be hemodynamically unstable, causing severe hypotension, and can thus be life-threatening.

What’s the difference between SVT and ventricular tachycardia?

The many forms of tachycardia depend on where the fast heart rate begins. If it begins in the ventricles, it is called ventricular tachycardia. If it begins above the ventricles, it is called supraventricular tachycardia.

Why is QRS complex wide in ventricular tachycardia?

During VT, the width of the QRS complex is influenced by: The site of VT origin: free wall sites of origin result in wider QRS complexes due to sequential activation (in series) of the two ventricles, as compared to septal sites, which result in simultaneous activation (in parallel).

Does SVT have a wide QRS?

Wide QRS complex tachycardia can be originated by 3 main mechanisms1: Ventricular tachycardia (VT). Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) with an aberrant conduction attributable to a preexisting bundle-branch block or functional bundle-branch block induced by the fast heart rate.

Is SVT a narrow complex tachycardia?

Supraventricular tachycardias are usually narrow-complex tachycardias with a QRS interval of 100 ms or less on an electrocardiogram (ECG). Occasionally, they may show a wide QRS complex in the case of a pre-existing conduction delay, an aberrancy due to rate-related conduction delay or a bundle branch block.

Is supraventricular tachycardia shockable?

The two shockable rhythms are ventricular fibrillation (VF) and pulseless ventricular tachycardia (VT) while the non–shockable rhythms include sinus rhythm (SR), supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), premature ventricualr contraction (PVC), atrial fibrilation (AF) and so on.

Why do you shock pulseless v-tach?

Ventricular tachycardia is a poorly perfusing rhythm; patients may present with or without a pulse. Most patients with this rhythm are unconscious and pulseless and defibrillation is needed to “reset” the heart so that the primary pacemaker (usually the Sinoatrial Node) can take over.