What does torsade de pointes mean in medical terms?
What does torsade de pointes mean in medical terms?
Torsades de Pointes is a specific type of ventricular tachycardia, or fast heart rhythm that begins in your heart ventricles. You can get it if you inherited Long QT syndrome or if you take certain medicines.
How serious is torsade de pointes?
Torsades de pointes is a serious arrhythmia that can lead to sudden cardiac death in some cases. However, the outlook for people managing the condition with the appropriate treatment is excellent. Arrhythmias are common but can be very serious, so an abnormal heartbeat should always be reported to a doctor.
What is short coupling?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Short coupled or short-coupled may refer to: Short-coupled aircraft, an aircraft with a relatively short distance between the wing and empennage. This can lead to pilot-induced oscillation.
What is the most common cause of Torsades de Pointes?
The most common causes of acquired long QT syndrome are medications and electrolyte disorders (eg, hypokalemia, hypomagnesemia). Drug-associated torsade de pointes is relatively rare, but is becoming increasingly common; its incidence is as high as 2-3% with certain drugs.
What is torsade de pointes symptoms?
Around 50% of patients with Torsades de Pointes are asymptomatic. The most common symptoms reported are syncope, palpitations, and dizziness. However, cardiac death is the presenting symptom in up to 10% of patients. Patients with Jervell and Lange Nielsen syndrome may have a history of deafness.
What medication should be considered for torsades de pointes?
Treatment of torsade de pointes includes: isoproterenol infusion, cardiac pacing, and intravenous atropine. Intravenous magnesium sulfate, a relatively new mode of therapy for torsade de pointes, was proven to be extremely effective and is now regarded as the treatment of choice for this arrhythmia.
How do you treat torsade de pointes?
What is coupling interval in ECG?
One of the basic ECG characteristics of PVCs is the coupling interval (CI), which is defined as the distance between the onset of the preceding sinus QRS and that of the premature beat. An important feature of PVCs described in the literature is the variability of the CI.
What does short coupled mean in dogs?
How can this be? It comes down to the distance between that last rib and the pelvis – the coupling. A “short coupled” dog has less space in that area, and conversely, the “long coupled” dog has more. Lexicon can complicate things when people use different terms.
How can torsades de pointes be prevented?
The first step in managing Torsades de Pointes is preventing its onset by targeting modifiable risk factors. This includes discontinuing any QT prolonging drugs and optimizing a patient’s electrolyte profile. Correcting hypokalemia, hypomagnesemia, and hypocalcemia can all help to prevent the onset of torsades.
What happens to the heart during Torsades de Pointes?
In the case of torsades de pointes (TdP), the heart’s two lower chambers, called the ventricles, beat faster than and out of sync with the upper chambers, called the atria. An abnormal heart rhythm is called an arrhythmia. When the heart beats much faster than normal, the condition is called tachycardia.
How do you identify Torsades de Pointes?
Torsades de pointes is a specific form of polymorphic ventricular tachycardia in patients with a long QT interval. It is characterized by rapid, irregular QRS complexes, which appear to be twisting around the electrocardiogram (ECG) baseline.