This ECG is from an 84-year-old man who experienced dizziness and a fall.  He was not injured in the fall.  In this ECG, we can clearly see regular P waves at about 110 per minute.  We also see wide QRS complexes at about 52 per minute.  There is AV  dissociation - there are no regular PR intervals, or even progressively-prolonging PR intervals.  The atrial and the ventricles are beating to separate rhythms.  What is interesting about this rhythm is the origin of the escape rhythm.  The wide complex suggests a ventricular focus and the rate suggests supraventricular origin.  Near the end of the ECG, the escape rhythm either fails or slows significantly.  To see the next 12-lead ECG for this patient, go to this LINK.

The second ECG makes it more clear that this is an idioventricular escape rhythm, but the morphology of the QRS complexes suggested that, even in the first ECG when the rate was faster.  There are several clues that this is probably ventricular, including a very "backward" axis with aVR being upright and II, III, and aVF all being negative.  Also, V6 is negative, and there is nearly precordial concordance:  all except V1 are negative.  The morphology of the QRS does not fit a diagnosis of either left bundle branch block OR right bundle branch block.  The evidence points to a ventricular origin for this escape rhythm, and the patient quickly goes on to slow down severely.  Ventricular escape rhythm strongly suggests a sub-Hisian location for the block, and they tend to be more life-threatening than supra-Hisian blocks.

The take-home clinical lesson here is to BE PREPARED for worsening of the rate whenever AV block is present, especially high-grade AV block or sub-Hisian block.  This ECG is a very good one for teaching students to "march out" P waves, and find "hidden" P waves.  We have included a marked copy of this ECG to indicate those P waves.

Thanks to Sebastian Garay for donating these ECGs.

This rhythm strip shows a good example of complete (third-degree) AV block with ventricular escape rhythm.  It will be easy for your basic students to "march out" the P waves.  They are regular at a rate of about 88/min., and they are either visible, or are "hiding" in the QRS complex.  The ventricular rhythm is wide and very slow, and completely dissociated from the sinus rhythm.

For your more advanced students, you may want to discuss the likely origin or "level" of the block.  Blocks above the Bundle of His can have JUNCTIONAL escape rhythms, while blocks that occur below the Bundle of His generally have ventricular escape rhythms.  Ask your students which type of CHB they would prefer to have:  suprahisian or subhisian - and why?

This week's ECG of the Week is from an elderly woman who suffered an acute occlusion of the right coronary artery.  The ECG clearly shows ST elevation in leads II, III, and aVF, indicating inferior wall injury.  In this case, this ECG was obtained in the field by paramedics, and was the second ECG done on this patient. For this tracing, the paramedics obtained V3 and V4 on the right side to better view the right ventricle. V3 and V4 right clearly show ST elevation as well, indicating RVMI.  The slight coving and elevation observable in V1 is also an indication of RV involvement, and the ST depression in V2 indicates posterior wall injury.  All of this results from a proximal lesion of the RCA in this patient.  Such a lesion carries a high morbidity and mortality.

Taking the time to obtain a right ventricular lead is controversial in some settings.  Some believe the patient's hemodynamic condition should be treated, regardless of the presence or absence of ST elevation in right chest leads.  Others find it very helpful to know that the right ventricle is affected.  In this case, paramedics in this community have a protocol to avoid the use of nitroglycerine in RVMI patients, even when the BP is adequate.  So, for them, it is important to have the information gathered from V Right leads.

The rhythm here is interesting, as well, and not at all uncommon for IWMI patients.  The baseline artifact makes it a bit difficult to march out all the P waves, but it appears they are sinus P waves that are slightly irregular at a rate of 52 to 54.  The PR intervals appear to be progressively prolonging, but there is no "grouped beating" observable on this short strip.  A lack of a concurrent Lead II rhythm strip also makes it difficult to determine the rhythm, as Lead II does have very visible P waves, and would be helpful.  The regularity of the narrow complex bradycardia points to a junctional escape rhythm, which would make this a third-degree AVB at the AV node level, which is very common with IWMI.  What do you think?

This month's strip from Jason Roediger's ECG Challenge blogpost is a nice complement to the strip presented here.  His is much clearer, and has a Lead II rhythm strip.  Do you think these ECGs show the same rhythm, or two different rhythms?

For an excellent discussion of "AV Dissociation" vs. "AV Block", go to Christopher Watford's Ask the Expert post.  Thanks very much to ECG Guru Sebastian Garay for this interesting ECG.