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Failure to Record, Not Vagal Stimulation, Is the Cause for Unexpected Pauses
Annals of Emergency Medicine1 Sept 2026Ecg
Clinical takeaway
When an ECG pause is physiologically inconsistent, inspect all leads and waveform continuity for acquisition artefact before diagnosing true bradyarrhythmia.
EDCritix summary
This ECG letter argues that apparent pauses were caused by intermittent recording failure rather than vagal stimulation, citing baseline movement and a deformed T wave without a preceding recorded QRS complex.