Electrocardiographic wave form and cardiac arrhythmias.
In addition to its established diagnostic uses, the electrocardiogram may be useful for predicting ventricular fibrillation and other arrhythmias. Non-uniform recovery of excitability, which is a factor in vulnerability, is the determinant of QRST deflection area, and regionally selective sampling by body surface electrocardiographic mapping may permit recognition of the locally disparate recovery related to fibrillation. Preliminary experimental and clinical studies support this possibility and suggest that the multipolar content of QRST area distributions on the body surface is a marker of vulnerability.
Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City 84112.
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JA
Abildskov
D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D004594:Electrophysiology; D006321:Heart / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans