ABSTRACT
Sixty patients of whom 51 with old myocardial infarction--30 with late ventricular potentials and 30 without--were followed up for 5 years. The late ventricular potentials were recorded using an original method. During the follow-up period, in the group, with late ventricular potentials, sudden death was recorded in 6 patients and episodes of ventricular tachycardia in 2. No sudden death occurred in the patients without late ventricular potentials. The prognostic value of this simple, noninvasive technique is emphasized.
Subject(s)
Death, Sudden, Cardiac/epidemiology , Electrocardiography/methods , Follow-Up Studies , Heart Ventricles/physiopathology , Humans , Membrane Potentials , Myocardial Infarction/diagnosis , Myocardial Infarction/mortality , Prognosis , Time FactorsABSTRACT
Precordial thump is considered a useful manoeuver in cardiac arrest and ventricular tachycardia. On ecg recordings we have observed that the precordial thump has always been followed by an atrial or ventricular depolarization (premature beats), which is responsible for the cardiac electric activity enhancement and for the interruption of reentrant mechanism in ventricular and supraventricular tachycardias.
Subject(s)
Arrhythmias, Cardiac/therapy , Physical Stimulation , Arrhythmias, Cardiac/physiopathology , Electrocardiography , Heart/physiopathology , Heart Rate , Humans , Tachycardia/physiopathologyABSTRACT
A simple bedside intracavitary electrocardiographic technique is described. Two electrode catheters are used: one tripolar catheter positioned across the tricuspid valve in order to record the His electrogram, and a hexapolar catheter positioned through the superior caval vein near the sinus node with the proximal electrode and 6 cm lower in the right atrium with the tip electrode. This technique allows a better analysis of intraatrial conduction, widening the interpretation of the P-A interval obtained by the His bundle electrogram.
