Vocabulary Flashcards
Aberrancy
Abnormal conduction of the electrical impulse through the heart; Gives rise to wide complexes that are morphologically different from those that went through normal pathways.
Absolute refractory period
Period in the cell firing cycle at which it is impossible to restimulate a cell to fire off another impulse.
Absolute value
The amount of a number with no regard to its sign (Positive or negative)
Accessory pathway
A pathway, other than the AV node, for the transmission of the impulse from the atria to the ventricles
Acetylcholine
Chemical neurotransmitter used by the parasympathetic system.
Acidosis
Acid state in the pH balance scale
Actin
A muscle protein that is part of the contractile element.
Action potential
The electrical firing of the myocyte, which leads to contraction (Consist of four phases)
Afferent nerves
Nerves that bring information into the CNS
Amplitude
The total height of a wave or complex
Antegrade conduction
Normal conduction of the electrical impulse through the AV node from the atria to the ventricles
Anterior
Before or toward the front
Antidromic conduction
A circus movement of the electrical impulse found in patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome in which the impulse travels down the Kent bundle and then reenters the atria via the AV node; leads to wide complex morphology of the QRS complexes
Ashman’s phenomenon
Propensity of a complex to be transmitted aberrantly if it arrives prematurely after a long pause. In other words, if there is a long pause then a short pause (the premature complex), the QRS complex of the short pause is usually transmitted abberrantly
Asynchronous
The events do not occur at the same time
