Cardiovascular Critical Care II
Background
Cardiac arrest can be caused by four primary “rhythms”: VF, pVT, PEA, and asystole.
ii.
These rhythms can also be classified as shockable (VF and pVT) and non-shockable (PEA and
asystole).
| (a) | Ventricular fibrillation |
|---|---|
| (1) | Wide complex |
| (2) | Polymorphic |
| (3) | Disorganized |
| (4) | Coarse or fine |
| (5) | No/minimal forward flow |
| (b) | Pulseless VT |
| (1) | Wide complex |
| (2) | Monomorphic or polymorphic |
| (3) | Generally organized |
| (4) | No/minimal forward flow |
| (c) | Pulseless electrical activity |
| (1) | Not a rhythm itself but defined as an organized rhythm that would be expected to |
produce mechanical activity but does not
| (2) | Absent or insufficient mechanical ventricular activity |
|---|---|
| (3) | No/minimal forward flow |
| (d) | Asystole (ventricular asystole) |
| (1) | Absence of detectable ventricular electrical activity |
| (2) | Accompanied by absence of ventricular mechanical activity |
| (3) | No/minimal forward flow |