Archives

A muscle cell’s ability to shorten or contract through the action of actin and myosin – mediated by the calcium ion; the faster the influx Read More

The coronary arteries provide blood to the heart tissues, carrying blood first across the epicardium, then the myocardium and finally terminating in the endocardium. The Read More

The common venous outlet into the right atria that drains the heart’s venous system from the coronary arteries. Six Second ECG Guidebook (2012), T Barill, Read More

The presence of two consecutive premature complexes (i.e. 2 consecutive PVCs are called a ventricular couplet). 1. Six Second ECG Guidebook (2012), T Barill, p. Read More

Determining heart rate of complex rhythms can be challenging. Within complex rhythms is an underlying rhythm (i.e. sinus rhythm) and possible extra ectopic beats (i.e. Read More

For those in pulseless ventricular tachycardia (VT), ventricular fibrillation or polymorphic VT; an asynchronous application of an electrical current to the heart to depolarize all Read More

A slurring of the upstroke of the QRS produced by early depolarization (pre-excitation) of a ventricle via an accessory pathway (see Woolf-Parkinson-White Syndrome). Woolf-Parkinson-White Syndrome Read More

The synchronous pacing of the heart by an artificial pacemaker; the pacemaker fires only if the heart does not initiate an intrinsic impulse within a Read More

The rapid influx of positive ions (sodium and/or calcium) into a cell – depolarization is necessary for contraction to occur. A depolarizing wave moves through Read More

A relatively rare phenomena, with the heart located on the right side of the thorax (rather than the typical left thorax position). 1. Six Second Read More