User Manual

GLOSSARY OF TERMS
PatientNet Operator’s Manual, v1.04, 10001001-00X, Draft 235
All information contained herein is subject to the rights and restrictions on the title page.
Standard Limb Leads (bipolar) - these are the ECG Leads I, II, and III.
Tac h yca rdi a - a heart rate exceeding 100 beats per minute.
Temp lat e - a template stores information about the shape of a beat. Templates serve as
a reference to which all incoming beats will be compared. Beats either match or do not
match the reference beat. The algorithm determines if the patient has had that type of
beat before, if it is occurring more frequently, or if the shape (morphology) has
changed. The technical name for this process is template matching. (PN)
Trigeminy - a series of groups of three beats usually consisting of two normally con-
ducted QRS complexes followed by a premature contraction.
Torsades De Pointes - a form of ventricular tachycardia at rates of 150-250 beat per
minute. The complexes appear to rotate around the isoelectric axis, some are posi-
tively deflected and some are negatively deflected, changing their axis and amplitude.
Unifocal (uniform) - PVCs that have the same QRS complexes because they origi-
nate in the same ectopic ventricular site.
Unipolar - means one pole. In the case of ECG, only the positive lead is used. The
negative lead is mathematically computed. In pacemaker, a unipolar lead is a single
lead with the positive electrode on the heart and the negative one on the generator. The
unipolar limb leads are ECG leads aVR, aVL, and aVF.
Ventricular Arrhythmia - an arrhythmia originating in an ectopic pacemaker in the
ventricles.
Ventricular Ectopic (VE, PVC) - a single irritable site in the ventricle that fires pre-
maturely and overrides the SA and AV nodes. Because the beat originates in the ven-
tricles, its shape is wide and bizarre.
Ventricular Fibrillation - an arrhythmia originating in multiple ectopic pacemakers
in the ventricles characterized by numerous ventricular fibrillatory waves and no QRS
complexes.
Ventricular Tachycardia - an arrhythmia originating in an ectopic pacemaker in the
ventricles with a rate between 110 and 100 beats per minute.
Voltage - amplitude, with respect to ECGs, the height or depth of a wave or complex
measured in millimeters (mm).
Ventricular Pair - couplet, two PVCs in a row, may be from the same focus or varied
sites.