Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

tastefullyoffensive:

He-Dad [calmblueoceans]

naobro:

naobro’s “Medical Tidbits” blog #8; 05/31/2013

“What Those Waves on Heart Monitors Mean” The top image created from a video on youtube.com/watch?v=bnUM0aaPMyk, the next image from de.academic.ru, the third from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purkinje_fibers & the bottom image created from one on favoriteplus.com. According to the original video, the top animated GIF image above is that of a rabbit heart beating 3 hrs after dissection.

We have a 4 chambered heart; 2 atria on top of 2 ventricles, ventricles are larger than atria. Our heart is a peculiar organ; there is a group of cells located near the top, in the right atrium (#1 in the 2nd image from the top). These cells are called the “pacemaker” tissue because they generate electrical impulses which make our heart beat. The impulses travel from #1 to #2 (in the same image), then further down throughout the ventricles.

What do the waves shown in blue (in the 3rd image from the top) mean? The blue waves show the voltages registered as the electrical impulses travel throughout the heart & make our heart beat. The bottom image displays a little more details. In the bottom image, there are 4 waves, “P”, “QRS complex”, “T” & “U”. What are they?

P wave: This wave shows the electrical impulses traveling throughout our atria, the top 2 chambers of the heart. The impulses make the atria contract to squeeze the blood into our ventricles, the bottom 2 chambers of the heart.

QRS complex: This complex shows the electrical impulses traveling throughout our ventricles. The impulses make the ventricles contract to squeeze the blood out of the heart into our big arteries.

T wave: This wave shows our ventricles relaxing after the contraction.

U wave: This wave is usually too small to be observed in a healthy adult. Actually if the U wave is too prominent, we think something could be wrong.