ONE of the aims in reverting atrial fibril-lation to sinus rhythm is to improve cardiac function. Previous studies comparing the cardiac output during atrial fibrillation and following the restoration of sinus rhythm have demonstrated no change to as much as 140 per cent increase.1-3 Because of the experimental design of these studies, the validity of the observation that an increase in cardiac...

Results We included 267 cardiac arrests, 175 out-of-hospital and 92 in-hospital arrests. The cardiac arrests were distributed with 21 % in daytime (08-16), 27 % in the evening (16-00) and 24 % at night (00-08). The causes of cardiac arrests were acute coronary syndrome in 24 %, respiratory insufficiency in 13 %, hypotension in 5 %, arrhythmias in 3 %, other causes in 15 % and unknown in 40 %. T...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES The effect of cardiac resynchronization therapy on antitachycardia pacing still has to be determined. PATIENTS AND METHOD A total of 490 heart failure patients with an indication for an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator participated in the VENTAK CHF/CONTAK CD study, a single-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. We compared antitachycardia pacing effic...

Historically, the development of computerized models that utilize the deductive methods used by clinicians for the interpretation of cardiac arrhythmias have been limited by the absence of a consistently reliable means of detecting atrial activation. In this study, a theoretical model was developed with a hierarchical organization of problem-solving strategies utilizing automated analysis of at...

We searched for nutrient deficiencies that could cause cardiac arrhythmias [premature atrial contractions (PACs), premature ventricular contractions (PVCs), atrial fibrillation, and related sinus pauses], and found literature support for deficiencies of taurine and l-arginine. Case histories of people with very frequent arrhythmias are presented showing 10-20g taurine per day reduced PACs by 50...

We propose that along with the intracardiac pacemaker, a generator of cardiac rhythm exists in the central nervous system--in the efferent structures of the cardiovascular center of the medullar oblongata. Signals in the medulla oblongata arise as a result of the hierarchic interaction of the brain structures. Neural signals originating there in the form of bursts of impulses conduct to the hea...

CONTEXT Recent reports from 2 European cities and an earlier observation from Seattle, Wash, suggest that the number of patients treated for out-of-hospital ventricular fibrillation (VF) has declined. OBJECTIVE To analyze the incidence of cardiac arrest and to examine relationships among incidence, sex, race, age, and first identified cardiac rhythm in Seattle. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS...

OBJECTIVE To determine the epidemiology of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests and survival after resuscitation and to apply the Utstein style of reporting to data collection. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING A middle-sized urban city (population 516,000) served by a single emergency medical services system. PATIENTS Consecutive prehospital cardiac arrests occurring between 1 January ...

We present an interesting intracardiac electrogram of a dissimilar atrial rhythm in a patient of bi-atrial orthotopic cardiac transplant.

Background: Despite the progress of cardiac arrhythmia research and the advance of the pacemaker technology, much remains unknown about how the external pacing interacts with the heart’s intrinsic activity. Methods: We present an open source computer model that is capable to simulate intrinsic heart rhythm under both normal and pathological conditions, and its interactions with extrinsic dual-c...