Pacemaker rhythm or LBBB?

Report:

Sinus rhythm 87/min 2

Atrial-sensing ventricular pacemaker 8

Comment:

The point here is how small the pacing spikes are; they are best seen in L2 and V4, starting small shallow R waves in the latter. I was ready to cross the computer report and write LBBB instead, but something made me look again.

The QRS morphology does not help much. In V1, the QRS descent is not slurred or delayed (see Case 44), as would be expected in RV ectopic or RV-paced beats. On the other hand, its onset is a little delayed compared to the leads below it. One possibility is that there was ventricular fusion throughout between the patient’s native complexes (she had normal conduction before pacemaker implantation) and the ventricular paced ones.

See also Cases 15 and 94.

The Fig 41a below is easier to interpret.

Fig 41a. the spikes in V4 and now V5 are more visible.

Fig 42. 73 year old man in ICU following CABGs.

Collections

pacemakers

Tags

If you have any suggestions for or feedback on this report, please let us know.