CCI Certified Cardiographic Technician (CCT) Practice Exam 2026 – Your All-in-One Guide to Success!

Ventricular tachycardia is due to an electrical impulse arising from the ventricles, so the impulse spreads through the ventricular muscle rather than through the normal conduction system. This produces wide QRS complexes, because the ventricles activate in a slower, abnormal pattern, and the rate is fast—typically between 100 and 250 beats per minute. The rhythm is usually regular, and P waves may be absent or dissociated from the QRS because atrial activity is not driving the rhythm.

So the most characteristic finding is wide QRS complexes with a rapid rate, reflecting ventricular origin. The other patterns point to different arrhythmias: absent P waves with irregular rhythm suggests atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response; narrow QRS with normal rate indicates normal sinus rhythm; flutter waves at about 250 per minute are typical of atrial flutter.