Cardiac Arrhymias

4. transmission of electrical impulses from one cell to another
7. cardioverter defibrillator (ICD): a device implanted into the chest wall to treat arrhythmias
9. electrical current given to stop an arrhythmia, not synchronized with the patient’s QRS complex
10. conduction velocity
11. (ECG): a record of a test that graphically measures the electrical activity of the heart, including each phase of the cardiac cycle
12. process by which cardiac muscle cells change from a more negatively charged to a more positively charged intracellular state
14. distorted, irrelevant, and extraneous electrocardiographic (ECG) waveforms
15. ability of the cardiac cells to initiate an electrical impulse

1. purposeful destruction of heart muscle cells, usually in an attempt to correct or eliminate an arrhythmia
2. arrhythmia that has a sudden onset and terminates spontaneously; usually of short duration, but may recur
3. resynchronization therapy (CRT): biventricular pacing used to correct interventricular, intraventricular, and atrioventricular conduction disturbances that occur in patients with heart failure
5. rate of impulse formation
6. electrical current given in synchrony with the patient’s own QRS complex to stop an arrhythmia
7. force of myocardial contraction
8. wave: the part of an ECG that reflects conduction of an electrical impulse through the atrium; atrial depolarization
13. disorder of the formation or conduction (or both) of the electrical impulse within the heart, altering the heart rate, heart rhythm, or both and potentially causing altered blood flow (also referred to as dysrhythmia)