Cardiac arrhythmias

Abstract

A 64 years old male with historyof hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was admitted to the intensive care unit with acute infective exacerbation of his pulmonary condition and type 2 respiratory failure. He was doing reasonably well with standard medical treatment and non-invasive ventilator support, until he suddenly became hypotensive on his third hospitalization day. Monitor showed an irregularly irregular narrow QRS complextachycardia with a ventricular rate of 156/min and blood pressure of 76/40 mmHg, pulse oximetry reading of 80% on fractional inspiratory oxygen 0.4.