Rhythm Of The Heart Flashcards
What is the conducting system of the heart?
Electrical impulses begin in the SAN and travels to the AVN. This is transferred from the bundle of His to the left and right bundle branches and this travels along the ventricles to reach the myocardium and transmit along the Purkinje fibres to the ventricular muscles.
What is the septum of the ventricle?
Contains the Bundle of His. The left side of the septum is stimulated first by the Bundle of His, and initially there is an intermittent depolarisation from the left bundle of His to the right ventricle, but there is a large depolarisation of the left ventricle which spreads to the right across the septum.
What is the role of the SAN?
Pacemaker cells which responds to neural and hormonal stimuli to establish heart rate at 60-100bpm.
What is the role of the AVN?
Ensures there is a delay between impulse transmission between the atria and ventricles for efficient ventricular filling. If SAN fails, it can establish 40-60bpm heart rate.
What is the role of the His-Purkinje system?
Spread of electrical impulses rapidly and synchronously into the cardiomyocytes of the ventricles for contraction.
What is the P wave?
Atrial depolarisation.
What is the QRS complex?
Ventricular depolarisation and atrial depolarisation.
What is the T wave
Ventricular depolarisation.
What does a delay of the PR interval mean?
Delay in atrioventricular condition through AV node.
What does a delay in the QRS mean?
Slow conduction through the ventricular myocardium.
What does a delay in the QT interval indicate?
Issue with depolarisation of the ventricular myocardium.
How can rhythm of heart be determined?
Space between the R waves.
How to determine heart rate on graph?
Regular rhythm: no of large squares between 2 R intervals
Irregular rhythm: no of QRS complexes on a rhythm strip multiplied by 6
What is the effect of the parasympathetic system on heart rate?
Slows heart rate for sleep, vasovagal syncope and in fitter people, they have a lower resting heart rate.
What is the effect of the sympathetic nervous system on heart rate?
Increases heart rate in first minutes after exercise, fear, adrenaline , and salbutamol use.
What causes a decrease in parasympathetic control of the heart?
Falling arterial pressure during syncope
Heart failure
First few seconds of exercise
Use of muscarinic blocking agents.
What causes a decrease in sympathetic control of the heart?
Rest and sleep
During vasovagal syncope
Use of beta blockers
How can we use an ECG to determine sinus bradycardia?
Sinus bradycardia is when the SAN node impulses results in a heart rate less than 60bpm. An ECG trace will show greater distance between the PQRS waves, with a normal P wave in front of each complex.
How do electrical impulses reach the left atrium?
Travel from the SA node along Bachmann’s bundle.
What are the features of the Bundle of His?
Bundle of His receives impulses from the SAN and splits into a left bundle branch and right bundle branch.
The left bundle branch gives off an anterior and posterior branch.
Bundle branch blocks cause a wide QRS complex.
What is heart block?
Electrical impulses that generate contraction of the heart are interrupted due to issues with the AV node. Heart block has 3 degrees of severity, with 3rd degree heart block being complete heart block and is a medical emergency.
What is 1st degree heart block?
Longer PR interval over 200 M/s due to disruption of electrical impulses to the AVN node.
This is normal in younger patients and athletes due to greater vagal tone.
What are the causes of 1st degree heart block?
It can be caused by
-> normal vagal tone in athletes and elderly
->acute rheumatic carditis
—>fibrosis in elderly
-> electrolyte imbalances with hypokalemia and hypomagesaemia
-> mitral valve surgery
-> coronary artery disease.
Which drugs can cause 1st degree heart block?
Beta blockers and digoxin which block the AV node. This can also cause other degrees of heart block.
What is acute rheumatic carditis?
Rheumatic fever is an inflammatory condition which can cause permanent damage to the heart valves, with greater risk for those with undertreated/untreated strep infections.
What is 2nd degree heart block?
Intermittent failure of electrical impulse conduction of the AVN to the Bundle of His, and impulses received from the SAN.
Generally, it is caused by increased vagal tone or myocardial infarction or may be a normal variant. The two types of 2nd degree block are Mobitz and Wenckebach.
What is a Mobitz II Arrythmia?
Type of 2nd degree heart block where there is a greater number of P wave to the number of QRS complexes and normal PR interval.
There may be a set ratio of PR to QRS complexes.
What is the significance of Mobitz II Arrythmia?
Patients are typically symptomatic with syncope, chest pain and fatigue so treatment with atropine or pacemaker is importantly due to high risk of progression.
What is the effect of ECG when Mobitz II Arrythmia occurs below the Bundle of His?
Wide QRS complex.
What is the effect of ECG when Mobitz II Arrythmia occurs within the Bundle of His?
Narrow QRS complex.