Emergency treatment of bradycardias

Bradycardia in the acutely symptomatic patient is often associated with a poor prognosis and requires urgent diagnostic and therapeutic intervention. However, sinus bradycardia can also be purely chronic and harmless. In this situation, a structured approach to diagnosis and clinical assessment of the bradycardia is paramount. In this article, an overview of bradycardia, its pathogenesis, and the differential diagnosis is provided.