Pseudo-ventricular tachycardia: electrocardiographic artefact mimicking non-sustained polymorphic ventricular tachycardia in a patient evaluated for syncope

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate immediate and midterm results after balloon valvoplasty in a paediatric population with congenital aortic stenosis, giving special consideration to aortic regurgitation. Design: Retrospective study. Setting: Two tertiary referral centres for paediatric cardiology. Patients: 70 consecutive patients, with an age range of 0-16.4 years. Group A infants , 3 months old (n = 21). Group B children. 3 months old (n = 49). Median follow up time was 19.8 months, range 0-158 months. Intervention: All patients underwent balloon aortic valvoplasty. The balloon to annulus ratio was selected at a mean of 0.90 (range 0.67-1.0). Main outcome measures: Doppler gradients and degree of aortic regurgitation. Results: The pressure gradient dropped significantly with the intervention and increased mildly at follow up. Freedom from relevant aortic regurgitation (that is, moderate and severe) was initially lower in group A (75% v 90% after one month) but after two years the difference between the two groups was not significant (50% v 61%). Freedom from reintervention was significantly lower in group A (with 35% v 80%) after three years. Conclusion: Aortic balloon valvoplasty is safe and effective but has a high rate of early reintervention in infants with critical aortic stenosis. The major long term problem is progressive aortic regurgitation, which does not seem to be prevented by the use of small balloons.

Diagnostic challenge of artifactual electrocardiographic tachyarrhythmias

“…Pseudo-VT has been amply documented in the literature [2,3,[15][16][17][18][19][20]. In our case one could interpret the tracing as showing fast organized ventricular flutter alternating with ventricular fibrillation (VF) which then reorganized itself back into ventricular flutter.…”

Occurrence of Potentially Lethal Arrhythmia due to Sudden Exposure of an Overt Accessory Pathway 8 Years After Catheter Ablation of a Concealed Accessory Pathway

“…Antegrade AP, which contributes to ventricular pre-excitation, is sometimes responsible for antidromic reentrant tachycardia or conduction during AF, resulting in subsequent development of ventricular fibrillation, a lifethreatening arrhythmia. 14) The intermittent form of AP has been recognized, 4) and this subgroup was considered safer than others. However, it was also reported that there was no difference in ERP frequency < 250 ms, which is known as high-risk AP between persistent AP and intermittent AP.…”

Pseudoseizure with Pseudo-ventricular Tachycardia

“…We ordered a 11 Artefacts are defined as ECG abnormalities that may be due to sources other than the electrical activity of the heart. By far, body tremor is the most common cause, resulting in electrocardiographic artefact in clinical practice, and could be misdiagnosed as VT. [12][13][14][15] In addition to the tremors, other factors such as clonic jerking, loose leads, etc. may play a role.…”