TODAY, we are starting a new feature on the ECG GURU. ECG BASICS will provide rhythm strips and 12-leads for your beginner or refresher students. It can be discouraging to the entry-level student to see only intermediate or advanced material and not understand it. We must remember to start at the most elementary concepts, and then build on them, just as we do with any other subject. Even more advanced students sometimes benefit from a return to the "basics". In this weekly feature, you will find downloadable content that is, like all ECG Guru content, FREE for use in an educational context. Please let us know in the "Comments" section below what ECGs, rhythm strips, or illustrations you would like to see featured in this new area.
Today's strip: Sinus bradycardia with first-degree AV block. The rate is in the 30's and slowing, and the PR interval is .26 seconds.
PACEMAKER MEDIATED TACHYCARDIA is a term for several different mechanisms that cause inappropriately fast rates in a paced patient. It is a very interesting topic, which I will not attempt to discuss here, because it has been done to perfection by DR. KEN GRAUER, MD, with assistance from JASON ROEDIGER, CCT, CRAT in Dr. Grauer's ECG Consult #13 Please follow this link to a concise, complete, and illustrated discussion of PMT.
