ecg pauses

[vwb1]

Hello, Just wondering if anyone can help confirm the correct method to measure cardiac pauses, Do you measure from Q.wave to Q.wave OR do you measure from the end of the T.wave to the next P.wave (with consideration to AF - then the next Q.wave)

Thankyou.

[dianah, ASN]

I don't quite understand what you mean by 'cardiac pauses.'

Do you mean, in the case of sinus arrest VS sinus pause?

Or compensatory pause??

Or ? ? ?

Thank you. :)

[vwb1]

Thankyou for your response.

I think i'm refering to a 'sinus pause', for example a patient who has an 8 second pause and would be considered for ppm implant (with consideration to everything else), so where exactly would you measure To and From to determine that it was exactly 8 seconds or 8.5 seconds long?

Is that a sinus pause'?

Thankyou,

[dianah, ASN]

I've seen our Cardiologists measure from the beginning of the P wave to the beginning of the next P wave, assuming the pt is in a sinus rhythm.

[Dinith88]

I've seen our Cardiologists measure from the beginning of the P wave to the beginning of the next P wave, assuming the pt is in a sinus rhythm.

Actually, when you're talking pauses you should be measuring R to R, or the 'peak' of the QRS to 'peak' of the next QRS.

You'll see pauses in different heart blocks (where there can be more than one p-wave per QRS, etc.) or in a-fib where there are no p-waves...for example...so p-wave intervals can be useless. A 'pause' is the amount of time between ventricular conractions...

[Spatialized]

Thankyou for your response.

I think i'm refering to a 'sinus pause', for example a patient who has an 8 second pause and would be considered for ppm implant (with consideration to everything else), so where exactly would you measure To and From to determine that it was exactly 8 seconds or 8.5 seconds long?

Is that a sinus pause'?

Thankyou,

Actually, I'd call it ventricular standstill, or even asystole. 8 seconds is a little long just to be considered a "pause". But you could call it a pause. I always measure R to R. When you have blocks (either from AV blocks or Afib/flutter) p-waves can be too intermittent or not even there to be useful to measure.

If they were having multiple 8 second pauses I would have the cart parked near, pads on and atropine in my pocket, but that's just me.

Cheers,

Tom

I read this awhile ago, and this discussion reminded me of it.