Electrocardiography is a transthoracic recording over a period of time. Electrical activity is detected and recorded via electrodes attached to the outer surface of the skin. The recording produced by this noninvasive procedure is termed as electrocardiogram. ECGs are used to measure the rate and regularity of heartbeats as well as the size and position of the chambers, the presence of any damage to the heart, and the effects of drugs or devices used to regulate the heart.
Clinical Electrocardiography is the clearest and most accessible guide available to the application and interpretation of the ECG in clinical practice. The book proceeds from the belief that ECG patterns should not be memorized, but rather must be understood based on how they originate; it is only by achieving this level of understanding that clinicians can make the most informed diagnoses and thus manage patient care with complete confidence. This fully revised 5th edition: - Gives clear information about the correct diagnoses of different heart diseases based on ECG alterations. - Presents an exceedingly clear and linear approach to understanding the application and interpretation of the ECG in clinical practice. - Explains the electrical activity of the heart and basic electrocardiographic principals. - Offers guidance on normal ECG patterns and the changes various heart diseases produce in ECG morphology - Provides a practical, deductive approach to the diagnosis of arrhythmias - one of the most challenging tasks for many clinicians - Summarizes current knowledge of the clinical implication of rhythmic disturbances.
Table of Contents
Preface by Prof. Antoni Bayés de Luna vii
Preface by Drs Miquel Fiol‐Sala, Antoni Bayes‐Genís, and Adrián Baranchuk viii
Foreword by Dr Marcelo V. Elizari ix
Foreword by Dr Pedro Brugada xi
Recommended Reading xiii
Part 1 Introductory Aspects
1 The Electrical Activity of the Heart 3
2 The History of Electrocardiography 11
3 Utility and Limitations of the Surface ECG: Present and Future 17
Part 2 The Normal ECG
4 The Anatomical Basis of the ECG: From Macroscopic Anatomy to Ultrastructural Characteristics 25
5 The Electrophysiological Basis of the ECG: From Cell Electrophysiology to the Human ECG 35
6 The ECG Recording: Leads, Devices, and Techniques 56
7 Characteristics of the Normal Electrocardiogram: Normal ECG Waves and Intervals 69
8 Diagnostic Criteria: Sensitivity, Specificity, and Predictive Value 100
Part 3 Abnormal ECG Patterns
9 Atrial Abnormalities 107
10 Ventricular Enlargement 133
11 Ventricular Blocks 170
12 Ventricular Pre‐excitation 215
13 Ischemia and Necrosis 229 Part 4 Arrhythmias
14 Mechanisms, Classification, and Clinical Aspects of Arrhythmias 299
15 Active Supraventricular Arrhythmias 321
16 Active Ventricular Arrhythmias 350
17 Passive Arrhythmias 376
18 Diagnosis of Arrhythmias in Clinical Practice: A Step‐by‐Step Approach 396
Part 5 The Clinical Usefulness of Electrocardiography
19 The Diagnostic Value of Electrocardiographic Abnormalities 411
20 The ECG in Different Clinical Set of Ischemic Heart Disease 427
21 Inherited Heart Diseases 478
22 The ECG in Other Heart Diseases 498
23 The ECG in Other Diseases and Different Situations 520
24 Other ECG Patterns of Risk 539
25 Limitations of the Conventional ECG: Utility of Other Techniques 552
26 The Electrocardiology of the Twenty‐First Century 571
Index 574
