EKG Fileroom Case 5
Diagnosis: Really Really bad Hyperkalemia
Discussion: This pt had a serum K+ of around 8. High serum potassium tends to depress myocardial contractility and slow down conduction, giving you a wide QRS, in this case extremely wide QRS. Also the T waves here are taller in amplitude than the QRS complex. The tall T waves are due to the massive efflux of K+ from the cells during repolarization.