 | This article may be too technical for most readers to understand. (June 2014) |
| Bigeminy | |
|---|---|
| Other names | bigemini |
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| Bigeminy as seen on a 12 lead ECG | |
| Pronunciation |
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Bigeminy is a cardiac arrhythmia in which there is a single ectopic beat, or irregular heartbeat, following each regular heartbeat. Most often this is due to ectopic beats occurring so frequently that there is one after each sinus beat, or normal heartbeat. The two beats are figuratively similar to two twins (hence bi- + gemini). For example, in ventricular bigeminy, a sinus beat is shortly followed by a premature ventricular contraction (PVC), a pause, another normal beat, and then another PVC.[1] In atrial bigeminy, the other "twin" is a premature atrial contraction (PAC).
- ^ Shvilkin, Ary L. Goldberger, Zachary D. Goldberger, Alexei (2013). Goldberger's Clinical Electrocardiography: A Simplified Approach (8th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier/Saunders. ISBN 9780323087865.
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