EP Lab Digest - March 2008 - (Page 43)

MARCH 2008 EP ONLINE 43 ECG INTERPRETATION Continued from page 40 of interpreting ECGs, since most ECGs now come with an automatic computer interpretation on it. Therefore, students and doctors in general might tend to cop out and just look at the computer interpretation and not really at all of the things that make up the ECG. When faced with an ECG that doesn’t have a computer interpretation, they’re stuck, because ECG is not really emphasized in medical school or training programs anymore.Thus, the purpose of this website is to get something together that is accessible and fun to look at that takes advantage of some teaching strategy approaches that I find interesting. I’ve also included on this website an image index of ECG abnormalities that students can look at that are more interesting and complex. You’ve been in the field for quite some time now. Is there an unusual ECG or case study that you can tell us about? Sure, I’ve encountered a lot of unusual cases. For example, there is an increasing number of interesting ECGs that represent genetic abnormalities of cell membranes in the heart. They are abnormalities in proteins that make up the membrane of a heart cell; these protein abnormalities that affect the movement of sodium and potassium in and out of the heart cell affect the shape and duration of the ST segment and t-wave of the ECG. Included in these abnormalities is Long QT syndrome. Sometimes these types of abnormalities can be induced in people who don’t have them on their resting ECGs. For instance, one might have an idiosyncratic reaction to a particular medication such as a commonly used antibiotic. Medication can often bring out these abnormalities in people who don’t have symptoms while they’re not taking the medication.Therefore, these abnormalities are interesting in that they’re precursors to arrhythmias that can cause sudden death. We can recognize on the ECG where the arrhythmia occurred. That being said, there was one particular case of an abnormality seen in a The purpose of this website is to get something together that is accessible and fun to look at that takes advantage of some teaching strategy approaches that I find interesting. female who presented to the emergency room.This patient had accidentally overdosed on an antidepressant medication; the abnormality later found was Brugada syndrome, a kind of genetic abnormality. This patient was someone who had nothing else wrong with her heart, and yet the abnormality could have caused sudden death.There was no family history; it was a drug-induced abnormality. For more information, please visit: http://library.med.utah.edu/kw/ ecg/intro.html ECG Website Feedback: “I would like to thank you for this excellent Web project! You have done a tremendous job in creating such an extensive source of free information that is otherwise found only in expensive textbooks.” —from a final-year student at Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic http://library.med.utah.edu/kw/ecg/intro.html http://www.omegamedicalimaging.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EP Lab Digest - March 2008

EP Lab Digest - March 2008 ECG 101: The Case of a Dizzy Patient with a Left Bundle Branch Block Delayed Defibrillation: Research and Results Interview with Paul S. Chan, MD Contents Letter from the Editor Spotlight Interview: St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center Parent Heart Watch from 36,000 Feet… Perspectives from the Annual Leadership Conference Clinical Trial Overview: 2008 Are MRI-Safe Pacemakers and Leads on the Horizon? Q & A with J. Rod Gimbel, MD Navigating Tortuous Coronary Sinus Anatomy Using a Bipolar Lead Email Discussion Group: March 2008 Guidelines on ECG Interpretation Spotlight Interview Update: What Have We Learned? The Value of Educating Staff Events Calendar Industry News and Products Classifieds Advertisers Index In Memoriam

EP Lab Digest - March 2008

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