In ventricular tachycardia, the QRS complex is typically what?

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Multiple Choice

In ventricular tachycardia, the QRS complex is typically what?

Explanation:
Ventricular tachycardia originates in the ventricular muscle, so the depolarization wave spreads through the myocardium rather than traveling quickly down the His-Purkinje system. This slower, cell-to-cell activation makes the ventricles take longer to depolarize, producing a broad QRS complex—typically wider than 120 milliseconds. That wide QRS is a hallmark of tachycardias arising in the ventricles and helps differentiate VT from most tachycardias that start above the ventricles, which use the normal conduction system and usually have a narrow QRS. An absent QRS would indicate no ventricular depolarization, which isn’t VT. In polymorphic VT the morphology can vary, but the defining feature is a wide QRS complex.

Ventricular tachycardia originates in the ventricular muscle, so the depolarization wave spreads through the myocardium rather than traveling quickly down the His-Purkinje system. This slower, cell-to-cell activation makes the ventricles take longer to depolarize, producing a broad QRS complex—typically wider than 120 milliseconds. That wide QRS is a hallmark of tachycardias arising in the ventricles and helps differentiate VT from most tachycardias that start above the ventricles, which use the normal conduction system and usually have a narrow QRS. An absent QRS would indicate no ventricular depolarization, which isn’t VT. In polymorphic VT the morphology can vary, but the defining feature is a wide QRS complex.

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