Hypoxia and Medicine

severe hypoxia?

Can severe hypoxia cause bradydysrhythmias (slow rhythms) more often than ventricular fibrillation and why?

Public Comments

1. Depends.....do you mean hypoxia to the heart or hypoxia to the brain/nervous system. Usually, MYOCARDIAL hypoxia predisposes to ventricular fibrillation. Focal ischemia (such as to the AV junction), could cause a heart block, and therefore a bradyrhythmia. BRAIN hypoxia or ischemia can cause bradydysrhythmias (such as found in cushing's triad).