Wide Complex Tachycardias

Leen Alblaihed; Tareq Al-Salamah

doi:10.1016/j.emc.2022.06.010

Wide Complex Tachycardias

Emerg Med Clin North Am. 2022 Nov;40(4):733-753. doi: 10.1016/j.emc.2022.06.010. Epub 2022 Oct 7.

Authors

Leen Alblaihed¹, Tareq Al-Salamah²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. Electronic address: lalblaihed@som.umaryland.edu.
² Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Emergency Medicine, King Saud University, PO Box 7805, Riyadh 11472, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: https://twitter.com/SalamahTareq.

PMID: 36396219
DOI: 10.1016/j.emc.2022.06.010

Abstract

Wide complex tachycardias (WCT) are frequently encountered in the emergency department. Causes of WCT vary from benign (eg, supraventricular with rate-related aberrancy) to life threatening (eg, atrial fibrillation with WPW, or ventricular tachycardia). It is imperative that emergency physicians are familiar with the clinical presentation, underlying causes, and electrocardiographic features of the different causes of WCT. Treatment of WCT depends on patient stability, regularity of the rhythm, and QRS morphology. When in doubt, monomorphic WCT should be presumed to be ventricular tachycardia and treated as such.

Keywords: Tachycardia; Tachydysrhythmia; Ventricular tachycardia; Wide complex tachycardia.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Atrial Fibrillation* / diagnosis
Atrial Fibrillation* / therapy
Electrocardiography
Emergency Service, Hospital
Humans
Tachycardia, Ventricular* / diagnosis
Tachycardia, Ventricular* / therapy