A 72 year old male presents with a fractured neck of femur following a syncopal episode. He is now well and has an ECG prior to his surgical procedure.
What does it show?
What could be the cause of his fall and what is the management of the findings you have identified in the ECG?
If you are working though these questions systematically in reverse chronological order, this will all sound very familiar. Old man, fall, trifascicular block... This question is a repeat.
Instead of replicating the discussion entry here, one could refer the gentle reader to the most recent incarnation of this question (Question 18.1 from the first paper of 2013). However, in this incarnation of the SAQ, the college say that the cause was complete heart block. The ECG is borrowed from the LITFL library.
In this ECG, there is:
In summary, for a trifascicular block:
The AHA/ACCF/HRS recommend anybody with that much conductive tissue disease get a pacemaker. Other possible contributing causes need to be addressed, which could include AV blocker drugs (beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, digoxin) and electrolyte derangement.
Tracy, Cynthia M., et al. "2012 ACCF/AHA/HRS Focused Update of the 2008 Guidelines for Device-Based Therapy of Cardiac Rhythm Abnormalities A Report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines." Journal of the American College of Cardiology 60.14 (2012): 1297-1313.
Surawicz, Borys, et al. "AHA/ACCF/HRS Recommendations for the Standardization and Interpretation of the ElectrocardiogramPart III: Intraventricular Conduction Disturbances A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association Electrocardiography and Arrhythmias Committee, Council on Clinical Cardiology; the American College of Cardiology Foundation; and the Heart Rhythm Society Endorsed by the International Society for Computerized Electrocardiology." Journal of the American College of Cardiology53.11 (2009): 976-981.