Question for Doctors- what is this...?

Question

In simple terms what is

"a non specific, introventricular conduction delay, with leftward axis and QRS complex" ?

Any doctors out there or interns? What does this mean to the average joe?

Thanks

Answer 1

The EKG is a graphical representation of electrical impulse wave moving through the heart - think of having a sharpie marker attached to a buoy floating in some body of water - a wave goes by, moves the pen making a representational two-dimensional mark on a piece of paper. Now you have a three dimensional event (a wave moving a buoy), represented by a two-dimensional mark.

So this is in essence what an EKG does - it measures the rate, size, and direction that the electrical impulse as it spreads through the heart. All of the different tracings are just views coming from another direction (pens attached to all four sides and the top of the buoy, if you will)

Now that you have a basis to understand what an EKG does -lets define specifically that read out.

introventricular conduction delay - The ventricle is the lower part of the heart. Intro = within. Conduction delay is something that inhibits the electrical impulse from moving as rapidly as it would be expected.

Nonspecific - related to a noted difference that does not fit a pattern of a known disorder. It may look similiar to something but does not deflect enough or in as many leads as necessary to meet a certain strict criteria.

Leftward axis - It is expected that the tracing will deflect in a certain manner. When it deflected in a different manner the two dimensional representation "leans" to the left or right under certain criteria. It means that the impulse is traveling through the heart rather than top right to bottom left, top middle or top left to bottom right. It can indicate certain things (like cardiac injury) or nothing (normal variant). It is highly dependent on the context.

ORS complex is the largest deflection on the EKG. It is a graphical representation the ventricle depolarizing (contracting) as the left ventricle is the most muscular part of the heart and therefore generates the largest electrical impulse.

Does this mean anything serious? I doubt it, but as I mentioned it depends on the context. If these finding are new - that is, there are other EKG tracings without the above findings, then yes, it does mean something. If it is just a read out on a first time EKG with no specific symptoms or positive lab studies, it probably means nothing.

I hope that helps. Good luck.

Answer 2

The heart has an internal pacemaker called the SA node. The pacemaker sends out electric currents to cause the heart to beat. Introventricular conduction delay means that the conduction from your heart's atrium to the ventricles is being delayed by something, which can cause arrhythmias. The leftward axis means that it is a problem with the left side of the heart insead of the right, and the QRS complex refers to the time it takes for the electrical impulse to travel from the atrium to the ventricles. I hope this is simple enough cause I know I still used some medical terms.

Answer 3

I'm not a doctor, but this will get you one step closer: This description is a specific type of heart arrhythmia, where the different phases of the heart beat are not synchronized properly. That's the limit of my knowledge. More info at this link:

Answer 4

I'm not a doctor, but that sounds like a bundle branch block to me. If it's a right bundle branch block, it's probably no big deal. If it's a left bundle branch block, your doctors will want to dig further to figure out if there is an underlying condition.

Answer 5

You could get a heart scan to see where there are calcifications...
http://www.heart-scan.co.uk/heartscan.htm

It sounds like maybe you may have had a previous heart attack that caused damage to the heart muscle that makes for irregular heart beat or maybe slow or fast heart beat? Ask the doctor what it means...

Answer 6

Yes.

Answer 7

This link should help.

Answer 8

That's usually associated with "felching" (rodents used with homosexual activities). Stop the felching sessions and it'll clear up.