Ventricular Tachycardia: Pre-Existent LBBB with Right Axis Deviation

Report:

Ventricular tachycardia 167/min

Comment:

The diagnosis is based on RV1 morphology and the Northwest axis. In addition, the patient was known to have a pre-existing LBBB with RAD (a marker of congestive cardiomyopathy) shown below (Fig 89a).

Lead 3 is interesting in that it looks at first like narrow-QRS tachycardia with retrograde P waves. Looking up to leads 1 and 2 it becomes obvious that both the narrow QRS and the retrograde P are, in fact, just one broad QRS complex. It sounds obvious, but it’s a good advice I heard, as a student: examine all the leads before you open your mouth.

There is no definite atrial activity present, except, perhaps, for a suspicious notching of the baseline in V1. It happens only once during the recording – it is best disregarded. Einmal ist keinmal!

89a. LBBB with RAD – a marker of congestive cardiomyopathy. 90. 27 year old man in good general health, with palpitations for the past 14 hours. The rhythm resisted xylocaine, amiodarone and MgSO4 in Casualty.

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