Pacemaker spikes before QRS complexes with paced rhythm. What does this indicate?

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Multiple Choice

Pacemaker spikes before QRS complexes with paced rhythm. What does this indicate?

Seeing spikes from a pacemaker just before each QRS means the heart is being paced by the device. Those small vertical spikes are the pacemaker’s output, delivering an electrical impulse that triggers ventricular depolarization, and the QRS that follows is the paced complex. This pattern confirms pacemaker pacing as the mechanism maintaining the rhythm. If the rhythm were sinus or AV-blocked without pacing, you wouldn’t see those consistent pacing spikes before the QRS; ventricular tachycardia would typically show rapid, wide QRS complexes without regular pacing spikes.

Seeing spikes from a pacemaker just before each QRS means the heart is being paced by the device. Those small vertical spikes are the pacemaker’s output, delivering an electrical impulse that triggers ventricular depolarization, and the QRS that follows is the paced complex. This pattern confirms pacemaker pacing as the mechanism maintaining the rhythm. If the rhythm were sinus or AV-blocked without pacing, you wouldn’t see those consistent pacing spikes before the QRS; ventricular tachycardia would typically show rapid, wide QRS complexes without regular pacing spikes.

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