Marked Q-T prolongation due to encainide therapy

Summary Encainide is a type Ic antiarrhythmie agent. During encainide therapy, mild Q-T interval prolongation can be seen, usually associated with prolongation of the Q-R-S interval. The present case report describes an unusual and marked prolongation of the Q-T interval with no Q-R-S interval prolongation in a patient who was treated with encainide for atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia. The drug metabolite profile in this patient's serum indicated an unusual elevation of the 3-methoxy-O-demethyl encainide metabolite, versus O-demethyl encainide. This elevated metabolite level suggests that 3-methoxy-O-demethyl encainide has a significant effect on prolongation of repolarization. An abnormal metabolism of encainide may be the underlying mechanism by which some patients would manifest an unusual prolongation of Q-T interval during encainide therapy.     

田径运动员心缩间期的研究

<正> 近年来在运动医学领域中,心缩间期(STI)被认为是评定运动员心脏功能状况的指标之一。为了进一步探讨STI对于评定田径运动员的心脏功能状况的意义,我们进行了下列研究。     

早搏联律间期缩短对血流动力学的影响

目的研究房性、室性早搏联律间期缩短与桡动脉图的关系,探讨早搏对血流动力学的影响。方法经心电图诊断为房性早搏48例及室性早搏51例,再应用心功能仪检查,通过信号处理技术对早搏桡动脉图形进行面积积分。结果①早搏桡动脉图积分面积提前率〉40%时最小,20%-40%时居中,〈20%时最大（P〈0.05）。②提前率相同情况下,左房与右房的早搏桡动脉图积分面积比较差异无统计学意义（P〉0.05）;左室与右室的早搏桡动脉图积分面积比较差异有统计学意义（P〈0.05）。③早搏时的桡动脉图积分面积最小,早搏前第一个窦性心搏居中,早搏后第一个窦性心搏最大（P〈0.05）。结论早搏对血流动力学的影响主要与早搏的联律间期长短有关,室性早搏还与其发生部位有关,早搏的代偿间歇,不能改善对血流动力学的影响。     

单发室性早搏中RT间期规律的分析

目的探讨室性早搏前后RT间期变化的规律。方法选取单发、有完全代偿间期的室性早搏心电图,测量室早及其前后相邻波群(简称室早前、室早、室早后)的RT间期,进行对比。对室早前心室舒张时间与室早RT间期变化的关系进行分析。结果RT间期由短到长的顺序为:室早<室早前<室早后。室早前心室舒张时间与室早RT间期无线性相关关系。结论室早时RT间期最短,室早后RT间期最长,这一变化规律与心室舒张时间无关。     

Ventricular rate smoothing for atrial fibrillation: a quantitative comparison study.

AIMS: To quantitatively compare the ventricular rate-smoothing (VRS) effects of different ventricular pacing (VP) protocols for atrial fibrillation (AF). METHODS AND RESULTS: Using a recently developed open-source model that can simulate the ventricular response in AF and VP, the performance of fixed-rate pacing and four previously published VRS algorithms were assessed by the mean RR (mRR), the root mean square of successive RR differences (RMSSD), the percentage of ventricular senses (VS%), and the percentage of short RR intervals (sRR%). All pacing protocols cause rate-dependent reduction of RMSSD, VS%, and sRR% with or without shortening of mRR compared to spontaneous AF. Fixed-rate pacing was more sensitive to the intrinsic rate than the VRS algorithms. The performance was generally comparable between different VRS algorithms, although higher mRR and VS% can be achieved at the expense of larger RMSSD and sRR%. CONCLUSION: The effect of VP on ventricular rhythm in AF depends on both intrinsic rate and the aggressiveness of the pacing protocol. Adequate rate control is necessary for effective operation of the VRS algorithm. Choosing VRS algorithm should balance between the beneficial effects of rate regularization and the negative effects of increasing heart rate and percentage of VP.     

Sympathetic skin response and R–R interval variation in chronic uremic patients

Sympathetic skin response (SSR) and R–R interval variation (RRIV) were studied in 36 chronic, nondiabetic uremics to compare with their nerve conduction studies (NCS) and clinical dysautonomia. Abnormal SSR was noted in 5 (13.9%) patients, abnormal RRIV in 14 (38.9%), and abnormal NCS in 26 (72.2%). The patients were classified into three groups: group (GP) 1: “normal,” n = 21 (58.3%), normal RRIV and SSR; GP 2: “isolated parasympathetic dysfunction,” n = 10 (27.8%), abnormal RRIV and normal SSR; and GP 3: “sympathetic sudomotor dysfunction,” n = 5 (13.9%), abnormal SSR. A significant difference in age was found among the three groups (GP 3 > GP 2 > GP 1; P < 0.0001, ANOVA). After controlling the age factor, we still noted a tendency toward increasing NCS disturbances (distal latency and nerve conduction velocity of peroneal nerve; P < 0.05, multiple regression analysis) and frequencies of clinical autonomic symptoms (postural dizziness and impotence; P < 0.05, Mantel–Hanszel test) from GP 1 to GP 3. Patients with abnormal SSR (GP 3) displayed significantly higher frequencies of postural dizziness and impotence, indicating the relationship between an absence of SSR and clinical dysautonomia. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

高血压病左室肥厚与QTc离散度关系的研究

目的 探讨高血压病病左室肥厚（ＬＶＨ）与非在室肥厚（ＮＬＶＨ）患者ＱＴｃｄ的关系及临床意义。方法 用分层抽样法测定１０３例原发性高血压病患者住院首次１２导联心电图ＱＴｃ离散度（ＱＴｃｄ）其中合并ＬＶＨ患者５７例，合并ＮＬＶＨ患者４６例，并与２０例健康人作对照，结果 ＱＴｃｄＬＶＨ组分别与ＮＬＶＨ组，对照组比较均有非常显著性差异（Ｐ〈０．０１）ＮＬＶＨ组与对照组比较无显著性差异（Ｐ〉０．０５）。结论     

Effects of gender,age, and heart rate on QT intervals in children

The objective of this study was to determine if gender, age, and heart rate affect corrected QT intervals in children. Electrocardiograms were obtained from 781 healthy children 10–18 years of age. Corrected QT intervals were significantly (p < 0.0005) greater for girls than for boys in the entire population and for each age group over 14 years. The corrected QT interval varied inversely with age and directly with heart rate. Hence gender, age, and heart rate should be considered when diagnosing long QT syndrome.     

Sources of unwanted variability in measurement and description of skin surface topography

Background/aims: Quantitative measurement of skin roughness has proved to be a valuable tool in the efficacy-control of external applications, but it suffers from not yielding easily comparable results. The most important sources of inter-observer variability are high-pass filters used to separate roughness and waviness, and low-pass filters which result from the finite resolution of the instrument or from the finite sampling interval of digital measurement. In the present study, the effects of high-pass filters and sampling intervals on the roughness measured were investigated. Methods: Dynamically focusing optical profilometry was used to measure the surfaces of negative replicas of healthy human skin. High-pass cut-off wavelengths and sampling intervals were varied systematically. Results/conclusions: Virtually unbiased estimates for the roughness parameters K, Sk, R_q, and R_a can be obtained using sampling intervals of 40 or even 80 μm. Regarding these roughness parameters, it is far better to do more scans than to shorten the sampling interval. The roughness parameters R_z, R_p, R_t, R_pm, R_max, P_t, on the other hand are very sensitive to the influence of the sampling interval; to achieve satisfying estimates, the sampling interval should be no longer than 2 to 5 urn; as an important parameter’of the measurement, it is worthy of remark and should always be indicated. The way the mean square roughness R_q depends on the cut-off wavelength is not well described by the Sayles-Thomas-relation R_q～λ_c^0.5. If the power-spectrum |h*(v)|² approximates sufficiently to a power law, |h*(v)|²～v^δ, a better estimate is given by R_q～λ_c^γ with γ=-(δ+1)/2. In many cases, γ=1 or R_q～λ_c will suffice.     

Effect of intravenous ketanserin on the human action potential duration at fixed heart rate

Summary In this study any changes in action potential duration or Q-T interval due to acute doses of ketanserin were monitored. The effect of a bolus dose (10 or 20 mg) followed by an infusion (10 or 20 mg over 20 minutes) of ketanserin on the Q-T interval and action potential duration was studied in six patients undergoing routine cardiac catheterization. Action potential duration was measured with a silver-silver chloride electrode catheter while heart rate was kept constant by atrial pacing and reflex effects avoided by -adrenergic blockade. There were some prolongations of the action potential duration but they were not in excess of 40 msec and did not reach statistical significance (control 263±46.0 msec; bolus 269±52.1 msec; infusion 262±53.6 msec; nor were there any significant changes in Q-T interval. Thus acute intravenous doses of ketanserin, in the absence of hypokalaemia or other Q-T interval-prolonging drugs, have no consistent effect on Q-T interval or action potential duration; prolongation of the action potential, when it occurs, is small.