Basic Electrocardiography – Normal and Abnormal ECG Patterns

A. Bayes de Luna, MD, FESC, FACC Prof. Antonio Bayes is a Professor of Cardiology in the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, and Director of the Institut Catala Cardiologia-Hospital Sant Pau. He was trained as a cardiologist in the School of Cardiology of the University of Barcelona, and the Institute of Cardiology and Hammersmith Hospital in London. He has served as President of the Catalan Society of Cardiology; President of the Spanish Society of Cardiology; President of the Catalan Foundation of Cardiology (ACARD); Vice-President of the Spanish Foundation of Cardiology; and President of the World Heart Federation. He has established different projects devoted to the fight against cardiovascular diseases, especially in developing countries such as "The twin centres program", "The white book in world cardiology" and the yearly "World Heart Day". He is President of the International Society for Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy (ISCP).

Foreword. 1 Introduction. 2 Usefulness And Limitations Of Electrocardiography. 3 Electrophysiological principles. The origin of ECG morphology. 4 ECG machines: how to perform and interpret ECG. 5 Normal ECG Characteristics. Heart rate. Rhythm. PR interval and segment. QT interval. P wave. QRS complex. ST segment and T wave. Assessment of the QRS electrical axis in a frontal plane. Rotations of the heart. Electrocardiographic changes with age. 6 Electrocardiographic Diagnostic Criteria. 7 Atrial Abnormalities. Right atrial enlargement. Left atrial enlargement. Biatrial enlargement. Interatrial block. 8 Ventricular Enlargement. Right ventricular enlargement. Electrocardiographic signs of right acute overload. Left ventricular enlargement. Biventricular enlargement. 9 Ventricular Blocks. Complete right bundle-branch block (RBBB). Partial right bundle branch block. Complete left bundle-branch block (LBBB). Partial left bundle-branch block. Zonal (divisional) left ventricular block. Bifascicular blocks. Trifascicular blocks. 10 Ventricular Preexcitation. WPW type preexcitation. Short PR -type preexcitation. 11 Electrocardiographic Pattern of Ischaemia, Injury and Necrosis. Anatomic introduction. Electrophysiological introduction. Electrocardiographic pattern of ischaemia. Electrocardiographic pattern of injury. Electrocardiographic pattern of necrosis. 12 Miscellaneous. Value of ECG in special conditions. ECG pattern of poor prognosis. ECG of Electrical alternans. Self-assessment. References. Index