Cardiac Arrhythmias - Ventricular Premature Contractions

VENTRICULAR PREMATURE CONTRACTIONS


● A premature ventricular complex (PVC) is a premature beat arising from an ectopic focus within the
ventricles.

● Frequently found in Healthy people, prevalence increases with age

● Mostly these are asymptomatic

● Some patients present with an irregular heartbeat, missed beat, or abnormally strong beat

● On examination pulse is irregular, low volume and sometimes missed.

Risk factors

The following can increase your risk of PVCs:

● Caffeine, tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs

● Exercise — if you have certain types of PVCs

● High blood pressure (hypertension)

● Anxiety

● Heart disease, including congenital heart disease, coronary artery disease, heart attack, heart
failure and a weakened heart muscle (cardiomyopathy)

Classification

PVCs may be either:

● Unifocal — arising from a single ectopic focus; each PVC is identical

● Multifocal — arising from two or more ectopic foci; multiple QRS morphologies

The origin of each PVC can be discerned from the QRS morphology:

● PVCs arising from the right ventricle have a left bundle branch block morphology (dominant S wave
in V1)

● PVCs arising from the left ventricle have a right bundle branch block morphology (dominant R wave
in V1)