Fluke Biomedical ProSim 4 - Manual (Page 42)

ProSim™ 4
Users Manual
A-2
Asystole (Cardiac Standstill)
No ECG activity whatsoever. Ventricular asystole is a critical condition
characterized by the absence of a heartbeat either in the ventricles or in the
entire heart. This condition, also referred to as cardiac standstill, is usually
accompanied by loss of consciousness, apnea, and—if not treated
immediately—death.
Atrial Fibrillation
A rapid, irregular atrial signal, coarse or fine, with no real P waves; an
irregularventricular rate. Coarse and fine atrial fibrillation occurs when the
electrical signals in the atria are chaotic, and multiple, ectopic pacemakers are
firing erratically. Some impulses may conduct through to the AV node to
stimulate the ventricles, causing a quite-irregular and often-rapid ventricular rate.
On the ECG there is an absence of P waves, with an irregular R-R interval.
Atrial-fibrillation waveforms are irregularly shaped and usually rounded. The
amplitude of the atrial signal is higher for coarse, and lower for fine, fibrillation.
Atrium
(1) One of the two upper chambers of the heart. (2) Any chamber allowing
entrance to another structure or organ.
AV Junction
A junction consisting of the AV node and the bundle of His. Conducts the
electrical impulse sent from the SA node from the atria into the ventricles.
AV Node
Also called the atrioventricular node. Located in the right atrium near the septum.
Conducts the electrical impulse in the heart to the bundle of His, which passes it
on to the left- and right-bundle branches.
Baud
A unit of measurement that denotes the number of discrete signal elements, such
as bits, that can be transmitted per second. Bits-persecond (bps) means the
number of binary digits transmitted in one second.
Blood Pressure
The pressure of the blood within the arteries, primarily maintained by contraction
of the left ventricle.
BPM
Beats per minute. SEE pulse.
Bundle-Branch Block
Blockage in the right- or left-bundle branches, with beats exhibiting a wide QRS
and a PR interval of 160 ms. Bundle-branch blockage—also referred to as
intraventricular conduction defect, BBB or IVCD—is a form of heart block in
which there is a conduction delay or failure from one of the branches of the
bundle of His (which start about a centimeter below the bundle of His) to the
Purkinje network. The blockage may be complete or incomplete, transient,
intermittent, or permanent. In most cases, the electrical impulse travels through
the normal bundle branch to stimulate one ventricle and then passes through the
cardiac septum to stimulate the other, resulting in one ventricle’s depolarizing
later than the other. (Both anatomically and functionally, the septum separates
the heart into its left and right halves.)