Category Cardiology
CCC Critical Care compendium 340

Ventricular Tachycardia

Ventricular Tachycardia = 3 or more VEB at a rate of > 130 beats/min. If > 30 seconds = sustained; can be monophoric or polymorphic

CCC Critical Care compendium 340

Vascular Gas Embolism

Vascular gas embolism (VGE) is the entrainment of air (or exogenously delivered gas) from a communication with the environment into the venous or arterial vasculature, producing systemic effects.

CCC Critical Care compendium 340

Preload

Preload = initial myocardial fibre length prior to contraction; determined by anything that effects ventricular volume at the end of diastole

CCC Critical Care compendium 340

Syncope

Syncope is transient, self-limited loss of consciousness with an inability to maintain postural tone that is followed by spontaneous recovery. Such an event without loss of consciousness is often termed “presyncope”. Underlying cause is often not found in the emergency department (~50%)

CCC Critical Care compendium 340

pCO2 gap

pCO2 gap is a surrogate for cardiac output; pCO2 gap = PcvCO2 - PaCO2; pCO2 gap >6 mmHg suggests a persistent shock state that may be amenable to fluid resuscitation +/- intrope support; a “ScvO2-cvaCO2gap-guided protocol” has been proposed to guide the management of septic shock