Digitalis and ekg

Hypokalemia is common and can be associated with serious adverse consequences, including paralysis, ileus, cardiac arrhythmias, and death. As a result, the body maintains serum potassium concentration within very narrow limits by tightly regulated feedback and feed-forward systems. Whereas the consequences of symptomatic hypokalemia and severe potassium depletion are well appreciated, chronic mild hypokalemia can accelerate the progression of chronic kidney disease, exacerbate systemic hypertension, and increase mortality...

BACKGROUND: Hypothyroidism is a reversible cause of atrioventricular (AV) block. Few reports have described reversible AV block caused by hyperthyroidism. However, it is unknown whether patients with AV block are expected to have a benign course after the initiation of appropriate therapy for thyroid dysfunction. METHODS: The study group consisted of patients with II or III degree AV block and bradyarrhythmia (≤40bpm) excluding patients with myocardial infarction, electrolyte abnormalities, digitalis toxicity, and vasovagal syncope...

A 53-year-old woman presented with digitalis toxicity caused by acute overdose that manifested as atrial tachycardia with block, sinus pauses, and competing AV junctional rhythm with atrial fibrillation. Patient admitted to overdosing with digoxin 15-20 h before presentation with intent to commit suicide. Serum digoxin level was 35.6 ng/ml and renal function was normal. Patient was treated with 1,040 mg of digoxin-specific antibody Fab fragment with prompt resolution of arrhythmias and restoration of sinus rhythm...

The aim of this study was to assess cardiovascular predictors for all-cause long-term mortality in patients undergoing standard endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) for infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Consecutive patients treated with EVAR (Zenith(®) stent grafts; Cook) between May 1998 and February 2006 were prospectively enrolled in a computerized database, together with retrospectively collected data on medication, and electrocardiographic and echocardiographic variables. Mortality was assessed on 1 December 2010...

BACKGROUND: There is limited insight into the association of electrocardiographic interpretability with outcome in patients referred for stress testing. METHODS: Exercise echocardiography was performed in 8226 patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease. Electrocardiograms were considered uninterpretable in the presence of left bundle-branch block (LBBB), left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) with strain, repolarization abnormalities because of digitalis therapy, ventricular paced rhythm, preexcitation or ST depression ≥ 0...

This study aimed to determine the clinical characteristics of elderly patients diagnosed with digitalis intoxication, on the Emergency Department, University Hospital Complex, A Coruña, Spain. During the study period (January-September 2008) cases were included in which digitalis intoxication was confirmed by plasma digoxin levels. We collected data on age, gender, base-line diseases, therapeutic indications for digoxin, functional classification, ejection fraction, plasma digoxin levels, creatinine clearance, ions, gasometry, electrocardiogram, concomitant medication, symptomatology and treatment...

Human skeletal muscles contain the largest single pool of K+ in the body (2600 mmol, 46 times the total K+ content of the extracellular space). Intense exercise may double arterial plasma K+ in one min. This is because of excitation-induced release of K+ from the working muscle cells via K+ channels. This hyperkalemia is rapidly corrected by reaccumulation of K+ into the muscle cells via Na+,K+ pumps, often leading to hypokalemia. Hyperkalemia may also arise from muscle cell damage, excessive oral or intravenous administration of K+, acidosis, renal failure, depolarization of muscle cells with succinyl choline, activation of K+ channels by fluoride poisoning, hyperkalemic periodic paralysis, malignant hyperthermia, inhibition of the Na+,K+ pumps by digitalis glycosides or treatment with nonselective beta blockers...

OBJECTIVE: To facilitate early recognition of ominous clinical manifestations, to understand pathophysiology and assess treatment effects in patients with severe enterovirus 71 (EV71) associated hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD). METHOD: A retrospective analysis was performed based on the clinical records, laboratory data and treatment effects which were collected from twelve severe EV71 infected cases from nine hospitals in 2008, in Hubei province, China. RESULT: Of the 12 severe cases, ten (83...

The Effects of Strophanthin and of Digitalis. 1. In intact dogs the dose which caused slowing and other signs of vagus stimulation without causing ectopic contractions usually lay between 30 and 40 per cent of the minimum lethal dose for Thoms g-strophanthin and for digipuratum and a fluid extract of digitalis, given intravenously in dilute solution in about 15 minutes. 2. In dogs strophanthin and digitalis when given intravenously produced typical alterations in the electrocardiogram almost immediately and with equal rapidity...

We have shown in a series of 105 cases of pneumonia, 95 of which we have selected as available for statistical study, that digitalis given by mouth has an action on the heart. We have judged this action to be present because changes occurred in the auriculoventricular conduction time and in the form of the T wave of the electrocardiogram, just as they do in the non-febrile heart. This conclusion is strengthened by finding that the pulse rate in fibrillating and fluttering cases fell in the presence of fever, exactly as it does in non-febrile cases...

Digitalis was given by mouth to five normal young male adults in amounts ranging from 2.0 to 3.0 gm. of standardized leaves in the course of 7 to 10 days. The As-Vs interval was prolonged in four of the five subjects, the greatest prolongation occurring in the case of the subject who received the most digitalis and none at all in one who received only 2.0 gm. There was no prolongation to so great an interval as 0.2 second until 2.7 gm. had been taken. The effects of the digitalis on conduction time began 5 to 6 days after the drug had been started and after 1...

It has been shown in this investigation that digitalis, administered orally to patients, can modify the T wave in the electrocardiogram. When the T wave in the initial curve is directed upward, the first change noticed is a lowering, and the final change is an inversion of the wave. It is not only the wave itself, but that portion of the curve between the end of R and the end of T which is involved. Instances in which the initial T waves have other than upright forms are described and their behavior under the influence of digitalis has been indicated...

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HISTORY: A 19-year-old man with congestive heart failure reported recent onset of exercise-induced dyspnea and pitting edema of the face. He also developed increasing muscular weakness. Three years before the diagnosis of autosomal-dominant Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD) had been made. FINDINGS: Cardiac and lung auscultation were unremarkable. The heart rate was 102 /min, and the blood pressure 100/70 mmHg. Aspartate aminotransferase (62 U/l) and lactate dehydrogensase (361 U/l) were elevated...

PURPOSE: To our experience, ST segment depression is sometimes detected in an exercise electrocardiogram (ECG) test in patients with liver cirrhosis who have no significant coronary stenosis. In this study, the mechanism of ST segment depression in liver cirrhosis was examined using (99m)Tc-methoxy-isobutyl-isonitrile (MIBI) myocardial scintigraphy. METHODS: Six patients with liver cirrhosis (LC group), and 15 normal subjects (N group) were examined. To evaluate the level of myocardial blood flow, a Bull's eye display of myocardial blood flow was performed after dividing the left ventricle into 9 segments...

BACKGROUND: The present study aimed to determine whether quality of life (QOL) in permanent atrial fibrillation (AF) patients would be improved by monotherapy with beta-blocker (BB) or calcium antagonist (CAA) as compared with digitalis. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twenty-nine patients with permanent AF under digitalis were randomized into BB (bisoprolol, atenolol or metoprolol) or CAA (verapamil) monotherapy treatment group. Twenty-five were men and the mean age was 67+/-8 years...

We present a case of multiple arrhythmias in a 3-year-old child who was presented to the emergency department with emesis. Initial vital signs were significant for a heart rate from 40 to 60 beats per minute with stable blood pressure. An electrocardiogram showed complete atrioventricular block with a junctional escape rhythm of 40 to 55 bpm that subsequently progressed to atrial flutter/fibrillation and then to a junctional escape rhythm. She was given intravenous atropine, resulting in acceleration of the junctional rhythm...

A 69-year-old woman caught a cold resulting in nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and severe anorexia. Then she suffered progressively from dyspnea and leg edema, and finally became delirious. On admission severe hypoglycemia, hypothermia, marked tachycardia, generalized edema, mild jaundice and cachexy were noted. EKG showed atrial fibrillation. A chest X-ray, chest CT and echocardiography showed congestive heart failure. Therapeutic use of diuretics induced shock leading to serious liver dysfunction and disseminated intravascular coagulation...

BACKGROUND: Cor triatriatum is a rare congenital cardiac abnormality, usually diagnosed in childhood. We describe the first case of atrial fibrillation secondary to maternal cor triatriatum diagnosed during the first trimester of pregnancy and its successful management until postpartum (MEDLINE [1966 to 2003] and Embase [1988 to 2003], using MeSH terms for "cor triatriatum" and "pregnancy"). CASE: A 31-year-old gravida 1 complained of progressive dyspnea on exertion and palpitations, which occurred at the end of the first trimester of the pregnancy...

Symptom-limited cardiopulmonary exercise testing was performed in 37 patients with mitral stenosis (MS) without significant coronary artery stenosis to evaluate factors affecting ST depression in exercise electrocardiograms. The degree of ST depression was not associated with gender or exercise tolerance. The incidence of significant ST depression was higher in the patients receiving than in those not receiving digitalis (P < 0.05). In addition, the patients with atrial fibrillation and a higher heart rate response were more likely to have a high prevalence of significant ST depression than those with sinus rhythm and a lower response (P < 0...