Transcutaneous cardiac pacing is an effective procedure for patients experiencing unstable bradycardia. Or is it? If you’ve read Tom’s introduction to the subject of false capture you’re already ahead of the game. We’ve shown case after case of unstable bradycardia patients receiving ineffective transcutaneous pacing due to a lack of capture. In each case, phantom pacing impulses […]
This is the discussion for “70 Year Old Male: Short of Breath“. Tough case. Lots of excellent comments and observations from our readers. Right off the bat, the patient’s presentation offered a major distraction: the recent eye surgery resulting in the old “eye patch presentationâ€. Confounding the situation further was the lack of any cardiac […]
Field termination of pediatric resuscitation is a difficult topic for EMS systems, prehospital providers, first responders, and the patient’s family. Clear guidelines exist for the termination of resuscitation of adults in cardiac arrest for both traumatic and non-traumatic etiologies, and routine transportation of adults in cardiac arrest all but guarantees poor outcomes. Unfortunately, for pediatric […]
This is the discussion for our Snapshot Case involving a 45 year old female complaining of chest pain. Here is the 12 lead for review: There is sinus rhythm at about 75 bpm. Slight ST elevation in V2. Biphasic T wave inversion in V2, inverted T waves in aVL, V3-V5. As we recall, the patient had complained of […]