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Multiple Choice

Ventricular tachycardia is described by which statement?

Ventricular tachycardia is a ventricular-origin tachyarrhythmia defined by three or more consecutive PVCs with a heart rate over 100 beats per minute. This pattern is dangerous because it can reduce cardiac output and may progress to ventricular fibrillation, causing sudden cardiac arrest. The statement fits best because it captures the essential diagnostic criterion—3 or more consecutive PVCs in a row with a rate above 100 bpm—and it aligns with the urgent treatment approach, where antiarrhythmics like lidocaine have been used acutely (with amiodarone more common today). Adenosine, by contrast, is not effective for ventricular tachycardia, which is why the other choices don’t fit. The other statements describe rhythms that are not ventricular tachycardia: a single PVC is not VT, ventricular fibrillation is a chaotic rhythm with no organized conduction, and bradycardia with symptoms refers to a slow heart rate rather than a fast ventricular rhythm.

Ventricular tachycardia is a ventricular-origin tachyarrhythmia defined by three or more consecutive PVCs with a heart rate over 100 beats per minute. This pattern is dangerous because it can reduce cardiac output and may progress to ventricular fibrillation, causing sudden cardiac arrest. The statement fits best because it captures the essential diagnostic criterion—3 or more consecutive PVCs in a row with a rate above 100 bpm—and it aligns with the urgent treatment approach, where antiarrhythmics like lidocaine have been used acutely (with amiodarone more common today). Adenosine, by contrast, is not effective for ventricular tachycardia, which is why the other choices don’t fit. The other statements describe rhythms that are not ventricular tachycardia: a single PVC is not VT, ventricular fibrillation is a chaotic rhythm with no organized conduction, and bradycardia with symptoms refers to a slow heart rate rather than a fast ventricular rhythm.