ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHY AND CARDIAC ARRHYTHMOLOGY
Code
11194
Academic unit
NOVA Medical School|Faculdade de Ciências Médicas
Department
MC
Credits
3
Teacher in charge
Prof. Doutor Eduardo Antunes
Objectives
The main purpose of the curricular unit Electrocardiography and Cardiac Arrhythmology is the achievement of a significant knowledge and expertise in the following areas:
1- Analysis and interpretation of the electrocardiogram;
2- Electrocardiographic diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction, ventricular hypertrophy, ventricular pre-excitation, sinus node dysfunction, atrioventricular blocks, intraventricular conduction disturbances, supraventricular and ventricular extrasystoles, atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, atrial tachycardia, atrioventricular node reentrant tachycardia, atrioventricular taquicardia mediated through a retrograde conducting accessory pathway and ventricular tachyarrhythmias;
3- Differential diagnosis of wide and narrow QRS complex tachycardias;
4- Differential diagnosis of cardiac bradyarrhythmias.
In addition the student will learn the applications of electrocardiography in other diagnostic studies and the main anti-arrhythmic therapies.
At the end of the course, the student will be able to read and interpret the ECG and to perform the differential diagnosis of cardiac bradyarrhythmias and cardiac tachyarrhythmias.
Prerequisites
Subject matter
The subjects will be presented in the following lessons:
1- Fundamentals of electrocardiography (February 26th)
2- Electrocardiographic diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction and other cardiovascular pathologies (March 5th)
3- Analysis and interpretation of the 12-lead ECG (March 12th)
4- Electrocardiographic diagnosis of atrial tachyarrhythmias: Atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter and atrial tachycardia (19th March)
5- Electrocardiographic diagnosis of regular tachycardias with narrow QRS complex: Atrioventricular node reentrant tachycardia, atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia mediated through a retrograde conducting accessory pathway and tachycardias with a long RP interval (26th March)
6- Electrocardiographic diagnosis of ventricular tachyarrhythmias (9th April)
7- Pre-excitation syndromes (16thApril)
8- Algorithms for the differential diagnosis of narrow and wide QRS complex tachyarrhythmias (23rd April)
9- Analysis and interpretation of the 12-lead ECG in cardiac tachyarrhythmias (30th April)
10- Cardiac bradyarrhythmias: Sick sinus syndrome, atrial ectopic rhythm, atrioventricular blocks, escape rhythms and intraventricular conduction disturbances (7th May)
11- Analysis and interpretation of the 12-lead ECG in cardiac bradyarrhythmias (14th May)
12- Basic principles of cardiac electrophysiology and cardiac pacing (21st May)
13- Pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments for cardiac arrhythmias (28th May)
14- Discussion of clinical cases (4th June)
15- A review of cardiac arrhythmias (11th June)
16- Final evaluation preparation (18th June)
Bibliography
Wagner GS, Strauss DG. Marriotts Practical Electrocardiography. 12th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2013
Wang K. Atlas of Electrocardiography. 1st ed. Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers; 2012
Goldberger AL, Goldberger ZD, Shvilkin A. Clinical Electrocardiography: A Simplified Approach. 8th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier/Saunders; 2013
Teaching method
The curricular unit involves theoretical-practical lessons and is based on an integrated, interactive teaching model. The 32 hour-course (84 hours of working time 3 ECTS) will be taught in two hour sessions, once a week, in the second semester. These will take place on Thursdays from 15.30 to 17.30 in the Faculty of Medical Sciences. The maximum number of enrollments is 40 and the students must be present during the sessions.
The material support will be based on PDF slides, published articles, summaries, electrocardiograms and recommended literature.
Evaluation method
Only the students who participated in two thirds of the lessons are eligible to do the final evaluation. The final evaluation consists of a multiple choice test with 20 questions to answer in 40 minutes. Final classification is in a scale of 0 to 20.
Provisory dates: June 25, 2015 (1st call); July 9, 2015 (2nd call); July 23, 2015 (special call)
Courses
