title: Documenting junctional ectopic tachycardia following pediatric open heart surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine appropriated documentations for diagnosis junctional ectopic tachycardia (JET) before treatment in post-operative open heart surgery and identify risk factors for post-operative cardiac arrhythmias in children.
  
  
  METHODS
  The authors performed a retrospective chart review in 277 patients who underwent surgical corrections at British Columbia's Children Hospital from January 1st, 2000 to December 31st, 2001. History, clinical symptoms, complication of surgery and post-operative cardiac arrhythmias were reviewed from medical records. The authors investigated whether JET was being diagnosed accurately and whether it was being adequately documented prior to the initiation of therapy. The authors also identified risk factors that were associated with JET. All documentations before treatment were reviewed by Pediatric cardiologists to confirm diagnosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although the diagnostic accuracy (84%), sensitivity (87%), and specificity (84%) are high, a significant number of patients with post-operative arrhythmias were treated without adequate documentation of the arrhythmia. The documentation of arrhythmias in the Intensive Care Unit was largely limited to rhythm strips, with very few 12-lead ECGs and wire studies performed to assist with the diagnosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The presented data indicates that, in this critically-ill population, there was an unacceptable number of patients with post-operative arrhythmias who may have been treated inappropriately. It is very important to emphasize the interpretation of wire studies, an investigation normally done in a critical care setting and whose interpretation is very important to the accurate diagnosis of pediatric arrhythmias.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Phramongkutklao Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand. gengsakul@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Aungkana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gengsakul
authors.forename: James E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Potts
authors.forename: Amonpreet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sandhu
authors.forename: Michael W H
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Patterson
authors.forename: Suvro S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Sett
authors.forename: Glenn
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Shubhayan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sanatani
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013613:Tachycardia, Ectopic Junctional / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D013785:Thailand