# Ventricular tachycardia

- Category: chronic
- Review status: reviewed (every claim checked against a document named on this page)
- Sources: ICPC-3 (WONCA International Classification of Primary Care, 3rd edition) class KD69.01 - condition scope only, no dose · No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care · Ventricular Tachycardia - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK532954/
- Verified date: 2026-08

## Verified against

- No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care
- Ventricular tachycardia - disease-level clinical article (ventricular-tachycardia-clinical.txt)

## Treatment metadata

- No drug therapy in primary care (Referral & Advice)

## Complete treatment card

```text
VENTRICULAR TACHYCARDIA
Sources: ICPC-3 (WONCA International Classification of Primary Care, 3rd edition) class KD69.01 -
         condition scope only, no dose · No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary
         care · Ventricular Tachycardia - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf -
         https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK532954/
Review status: REVIEWED against No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care,
               Ventricular tachycardia - disease-level clinical article
               (ventricular-tachycardia-clinical.txt)  (2026-08)

IS IT THIS? - reference only, to read alongside your own examination
  SYMPTOMS - what the patient reports (4)
    - Palpitations, lightheadedness, fainting, breathlessness, and chest pain  [breathlessness ·
      chest pain · palpitations · syncope]
    - A shock delivered by an implanted defibrillator may be how it presents  [shock]
    - Palpitations brought on by exercise or emotional stress suggest an idiopathic cause
      [palpitations]
    - Fainting or cardiac arrest as the first sign points toward an inherited channelopathy
      [syncope]
  SIGNS - what you find (2)
    - Fast heart rate, low blood pressure, altered mental status, and jugular cannon waves on exam
      [hypotension · tachycardia]
    - It is poorly tolerated, with marked hemodynamic compromise, when left ventricular function is
      already reduced
  TESTS (9)
    - A 12-lead ECG is the essential first test
    - About 80 percent of wide-complex tachycardia turns out to be ventricular tachycardia
    - The Brugada and Vereckei algorithms help separate VT from other wide-complex rhythms
    - Echocardiography is the standard test for assessing cardiac structure and function
    - CT angiography can rule out coronary disease without invasive catheterization in low-risk
      patients
    - Suspected ischemia as the trigger warrants invasive coronary angiography
    - Genetic testing is used when an inherited channelopathy is suspected
    - Serum potassium, magnesium, and calcium are checked as part of the workup
    - High-sensitivity troponin is measured to look for a myocardial infarction
  IF NOT THIS - what else fits (3)
    - An SVT that conducts abnormally, for instance through a bundle branch block, can also produce
      a wide QRS complex
    - Sodium-channel-blocking drug toxicity or a metabolic disturbance such as hyperkalemia can
      widen the QRS during tachycardia
    - A prior heart attack, an inherited long QT syndrome, or structural disease such as HCM or ARVC
      predisposes to it
  Source  StatPearls "Ventricular Tachycardia" - disease-level clinical article
  Status  traced to the source above

1. NO DRUG THERAPY IN PRIMARY CARE (REFERRAL & ADVICE)    [1st line]
   Adult    A potentially fatal arrhythmia, usually in a patient with underlying structural heart
            disease. A GP's role is recognition on ECG and immediate emergency transfer, not
            outpatient management. - Refer, with advice
   Peds     Children follow the same pathway: recognise and refer. No primary-care medicine is
            implied.
   Source   No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care
   Why      A potentially fatal arrhythmia, usually in a patient with underlying structural heart
            disease. A GP's role is recognition on ECG and immediate emergency transfer, not
            outpatient management.
   Caution  Loss of consciousness, haemodynamic collapse, pulselessness requiring defibrillation,
            known structural heart disease.
            No medicine is prescribed for this in primary care - this entry is for recognition and
            referral. Anything given is decided by the service it is referred to.
            RED FLAG - Hemodynamically unstable ventricular tachycardia requires emergency direct
            current cardioversion.
            RED FLAG - Ventricular tachycardia storm (≥3 episodes in 24h) is a severe life-
            threatening presentation in structural heart disease.

Prices are indicative (dataset snapshot 2026-06); verify with the pharmacy.
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