Cardiac Rhythm and Conduction Disturbances

Abstract

Patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) are exposed to several physiologic stressors that may trigger cardiac arrhythmias and lead to hemodynamic instability. Prompt recognition and initiation of appropriate therapies for arrhythmias is important because critically ill patients with arrhythmias (compared to patients without arrhythmias) have longer hospitalizations and higher mortality (30.8% vs 21.2%). Arrhythmias are classified as tachyarrhythmias or bradyarrhythmias. The most common sustained arrhythmias are supraventricular; atrial fibrillation is the most prevalent. Among the ventricular arrhythmias, up to 50% are monomorphic ventricular tachycardias.