Complete Ventricular Asystole in a Patient with Altered Mental Status

• Main Authors: Stephen Zanoni, Gerald Platt, Shaun Carstairs, Mark Hernandez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: eScholarship Publishing, University of California 2014-03-01
• Series: Western Journal of Emergency Medicine
• Subjects: asystole; arrhythmia; conduction disease; syncope; altered mental status; electrocardiogram; emergency medicine; cardiology; electrophysiology
• Online Access: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/8w22m8cs#

Patients who present with recurrent syncope are at risk for having underlying conduction disease, which may worsen if not promptly recognized and treated. We describe a patient who initially presented to a Mexican clinic with recurrent syncope and an electrocardiogram that showed complete heart block. After being transferred to our emergency department, he deteriorated into complete ventricular asystole with preserved atrial function and required placement of a transvenous cardiac pacemaker. [West J Emerg Med. 2014;15(2):149-151.]