Arrhythmia Books

I had a sudden cardiac arrest in March of this year. It took the EMTs 21min and 6 shocks to get my heart beat back. Miraculously, I made a full physical and cognitive recovery. Another part of the healing process was of course with my family. They endured something which was very difficult for me to understand. I was unconscious, on breathing machines and sedated. Reading this book completed the picture for me. It allowed me to experience the event from their perspective. Everyone in my family has read this book. As a result we have had a lot of open discussion about what happened and how it has effected all of us. This has been very important for us all to heal and move forward with the blessing we received with my recovery.

Jeremy's novel is a powerful account of Carolyn's sudden illness and the road to recovery. His description turn the account into a page turner and the terrific outcome with Carolyn full recovery. I found the emotional elements very provoking and reminded me on how much we take for granted good health in life and the fragility of life itself. For someone looking to understand the human element of SCA this is provides a lot of background.

In "A Heart Too Good To Die" by Jeremy Whitehead, one is taken into a first person account of the shock and disbelief experienced by the Australian narrator as he learns of his American bride's potentially fatal sudden cardiac arrest. You feel the pain and fright in this very personal, very poignant true story. Although one knows that Carolyn survives [see Foreword], the opening chapters had my heart racing as the story unfolds, the characters are introduced and the horror and shock of the initial incident resounds throughout her IBM staffers and attendees at the conference and to her new husband on the other side of the world from his home and on the other side of the country from his wife. The author's love and adoration of his wife are evident on every page and on every page you are there with them, hoping and praying for a happy ending. I highly recommend this book for all to read. It is one of the finest demonstrations on how to use the computer as a personal research tool I have ever read and it will educate you and your loved ones to the hidden killer among us.

What a compelling read! This book offers story and learning all in the same package. The story will touch your heart - the vibrant young woman who survives an unthinkable tragedy. She is supported by an adoring husband who, shaken to his core by the near-death events, emerges as her champion and mainstay. The learning comes as insight into the fragility of life, the uncertainty of science and the labyrinth of American healthcare as seen through the eyes of an Aussie. But even more than being just a story or insight into science, this is a book of hope, great love and awareness. It is a call to know more about sudden cardiac arrest because we never know when we might be called to be heros.

As I sat down to read this book, I thought I would spend 15 minutes on it, but instead it captured me and I couldn't put it down! For anyone who knows of someone who has suffered a cardiac arrest, OR anyone who has almost lost a loved one to ANY sudden, unexplained medical occurence or accident. I laughed and I cried...sometimes on the same page!!! A must read.

The book is absolutely amazing, and in my oppinion it is also mandatory to anyone working with cardiac electrophysiology to have it!!

From Ion channels in the molecular Genetics of the arrhythmia to the moment you push a patients face in a bucket of ice to convert them, good stuff. So little is still known about AvNode Rentrant tachycardia, Atrial flutter, classic WPW, etc. that it's highly refreshing to see a text like this. We know about Long QT syndrome and the specific genes responsible for this, mostly, and now the ones that have been identified for WPW, but there is so much more to understand. Did the open heart cryoblations hold fast, years later? What are the lasting effects of radiofrequency ablations? We are still experimental in our understanding, yet so advanced. Pacemakers, ICD's, and proper conversion methods for each arrhythmia, the dreaded Adenocard, etc. so much to do and learn, still.

this is the bible of EP
you MUST have every edition of it

This is probably the best reference work in this area, of what's available in print, book format.

Exellent review of the current concepts of electrophysiology.

This book is the best book for anyone...and I mean anyone to learn the basics of ekg's.

The book and pockeet reference are both excellent information on interpreting ECGs as well as the signmificance of abnormal electrolytes.

Very well organized.

This book has a lot of pictures of EKG's and has practice strips to practice analyzing normal and abnormal rythms. It was easy to read and understand.

If you have always seen the tele monitors in the hospital and don't know what the zigzag on it means, this is the book you need when you have to take an intensive critical care course.
This was a required text for my critical care course and amazon did a good job shipping it on time.
I liked the book and as many times as i've studied conduction in my A&P classes, the fact that i'm a physics and chemistry person makes me forget certain stuff in bio. This book does such a good job of explaining conduction in making you really understand what happens in various stages like depolirazion and repolization. I like the approach because you kinda need to know which ions are coming out at each phase so you'll know when to prescribe a calcium channel blocker for a patient and when to prescribe a class II or II antiarrhythmic.

I didn't get time to use the CD because time moves so fast when you're under stress but i did love the pocket companion and the only thing is that it doesn't tell you the treatments in it. You'll have to look at the big book itself to know how to treat a 3rd degree block. I never thought i'd be able to get the heart blocks down in my head but thanks to this book i did.

Just a little thing i'll share with readers, here's one way to remember a wenkenbach. It goes "longer, longer, longer, longer, then you have a wenkenbach."

the P-r interval keeps getting longer and longer till you finally dorp a qrs. My instructor sang it in a silly way and i thought i'd share it. In that way you'll recognize a Mobitz type I when you see one.
I tried different ECG books and this one one worked for me.

I was issued these books as part of my paramedic program. I haven't looked at any other books of this type, but I will say that the way the author lays out the different rythms and covers them in such a way, that it makes it easy for the beginner student to understand. The pocket reference is great and is small enough to carry with you for fast reference. Highly recommended.

The helpful pocket manual/text book contents are as follows
Chapter 1 Anatomy and Physiology
Chapter 2 Basic Electrophysiology
Chapter 3 Sinus Mechanisms
Chapter 4 Atrial Rythms
Chapter 5 Junctional Rythms
Chapter 6 Ventricular Rythms
Chapter 7 Atrioventricular (AV) Blocks
Chapter 8 Pacemaker Rythms
Chapter 9 Intro to 12 lead ECG

I have given this book to many people who are going through a health crisis. It speaks universally to the families of loved ones who are going through any sort of chronic illness. If you happen to be a family afflicted by Long QT syndrome, it makes the scientific knowledge of this genetic heart condition easily understood. I have also given this book to my children's teachers and the parents of their friends so that the diagnosis and treatment and day-to-day problems will be more readily understood and not seem as frightening to the adults who are in daily contact with my children.

I have given this book to many people who are going through a health crisis. It speaks universally to the families of loved ones who are going through any sort of chronic illness. If you happen to be a family afflicted by Long QT syndrome, it makes the scientific knowledge of this genetic heart condition easily understood. I have also given this book to my children's teachers and the parents of their friends so that the diagnosis and treatment and day-to-day problems will be more readily understood and not seem as frightening to the adults who are in daily contact with my children.

I have given this book to many people who are going through a health crisis. It speaks universally to the families of loved ones who are going through any sort of chronic illness. If you happen to be a family afflicted by Long QT syndrome, it makes the scientific knowledge of this genetic heart condition easily understood. I have also given this book to my children's teachers and the parents of their friends so that the diagnosis and treatment and day-to-day problems will be more readily understood and not seem as frightening to the adults who are in daily contact with my children.

I have given this book to many people who are going through a health crisis. It speaks universally to the families of loved ones who are going through any sort of chronic illness. If you happen to be a family afflicted by Long QT syndrome, it makes the scientific knowledge of this genetic heart condition easily understood. I have also given this book to my children's teachers and the parents of their friends so that the diagnosis and treatment and day-to-day problems will be more readily understood and not seem as frightening to the adults who are in daily contact with my children.

The "Basic Cardiac Electrophysiology for the Clinician" book is a very affordable book, packed with information about all of the components of electrocardiology and electrophysiology. It is obviously a best buy for anyone needing information on electrophysiology.

Excellent review that comes from the authorities of EP who wrote Electrophysiology from cell to bedside. a great book for the clinician

Jose Jalife is one of the few people who feel equally at home with both the experimental and computational aspects of cardiac electrophysiology research. He has been author or co-author of numerous well-cited papers in this area. This book not only gives a very good overview of the present state-of-the-art in cardiac electrophysiology, but also contains a lot of the findings of his group - especially on the role of nonlinear dynamics in cardiac arrhythmias. As such the title is too modest - it is not only the clinician who will benefit from reading the book, but also people involved in computational modeling of the heart. For people coming from outside physiology into this area (e.g., I come from physics), this book will be very helpful in giving them a crash course on the essentials of cardiac electrophysiology. The chapters I found especially relevant were: Chapter 4 ("Propagation through cardiac muscle") which gives a clear account of how ionic currents that move across a specified patch of membrane lead to propagation along the membrane so that the electric signal originated at one site can spread from cell to cell to induce the electrical activation of the entire heart (covers cable equations, "safety factor", anisotropic propagation, 2D and 3D propagation, etc); Chapter 6 ("Rate dependency of discontinuous propagation") which discusses the dynamics and ionic mechanisms of complex patterns of propagation (e.g., Wenckebach periodicity); Chapter 7 ("Basic mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmias") which deals with cellular mechanisms of arrhythmias and discusses in detail arrhythmias observed in clinical settings (e.g., ischemia, long QT syndrome, etc); Chapter 8 ("Spiral wave activity: a new lok at the old problem of reentry") which is really the icing on the cake. This is (at present) the only book aimed at the medical community which deals with the topic of spiral waves at such depth - and makes it clear why nonlinear dynamics is relevant to current research in cardiac arrhythmias. All in all it's a book well worth having for one's personal research reference library on cardiac electrophyiology.

The book holds nearly 500 pages and the text is supported by plenty of usefull illustrations and tables. It covers pacing therapy and the indications for internal defibrillators. Although the space is limited you will find a good discussion of details such as venous access and the various causes of cardiac syncope. The text often gives a historic perspective on the use of leads and generators and it is generally well written. It can be recommended for the clinical cardiologist who is not specially trained in electrophysiology but who needs a better understanding of modern pacing therapy. It is allways a problem to by books on a subject that changes so very fast. But if you need a survey this is the best way to do it. This book deserves to be read accordingly. It is a very nice book.

The book holds nearly 500 pages and the text is supported by plenty of usefull illustrations and tables. It covers pacing therapy and the indications for internal defibrillators. Although the space is limited you will find a good discussion of details such as venous access, the various causes of cardiac syncope and the clinical trials on ICD therapy. The text often gives a historic perspective on the use of leads and generators and it is generally well written. It can be recommended for the clinical cardiologist who is not specially trained in electrophysiology but who needs a better understanding of modern pacing therapy. It is always a problem to buy books on a subject that changes so very fast. But if you need a survey this is the best way to do it. This book deserves to be read accordingly. It is a very nice book.

ECG Notes: Interpretation And Management Guide

This book saved me during my ECG rotation! I think the author tells it all in her preface to the book:

No one is born knowing how to read ECG strips. We learn to do many things in a lifetime, and nearly all of them get better with practice. If you're planning to use this book, ECG isn't completely new to you--you have a good idea of what's involved in generating and interpreting a tracing.

ECG Success covers all the information you will need--anatomy and physiology, practice, and case scenarios, and relevant emergency care--to help you feel competent and in control, whether the situation involves an emergency or just a nonthreatening ECG. This book has staying power. You will find its content useful across a spectrum of situations, from classroom study through clinical experience and later in actual practice.

Pattern recognition lies at the heart of ECG interpretation. This skill develops with experience, gained through repetition and variety. You need to see the same patterns over and over again, but you also need to see as great a diversity as possible. In ECG Success you'll find more than 550 ECG tracings.

The book is organized into four units. First, two introductory chapters review the background information you need for working with ECG. Chapter One discusses heart anatomy and physiology, including biomechanics and electrophysiology. Chapter Two gives you the basics of ECG: limb and chest leads, electrode placement, cable connections, components of a tracing, rhythm strip analysis, and more.

In Unit II, seven chapters explain and illustrate the different types of rhythm, some dangerous, others merely troublesome, and a few even normal. Each of these chapters gives you a group of nine practice strips to analyze, with the answers given at the end of the chapter. All types of arrhythmias are discussed and illustrated: sinus, atrial, junctional, and ventricular; atrioventricular and bundle branch blocks; artifact; and artificial pacemaker rhythm. The section ends with a chapter on myocardial infarction and the 12-lead ECG.

The chapter practice strips will warm you up for Unit III, the working core of the book. You'll find four test chapters with a total of 300 strips and the answers given at the end of each chapter so you can check your work. In case you're hungry for more, the two chapters in Unit IV comprise eleven real-life case studies, followed by multiple-choice questions and illustrated by more ECG strips. Four appendices round out the book: Healthcare Provider Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, Advanced Cardiac Life Support Protocols, Emergency Medications, and Emergency Medical Skills.

As you page through this book you'll find some special features to guide you. In Units I and II, frequent Clinical Tips provide valuable information on how an arrhythmia can affect the patient. Hints on rhythm interpretation appear throughout the first practice strip chapter.

I couldn't have written this book without building up a track record of my own ECG successes. The secret: I had a good instructor who was patient and explained everything in detail. She kept emphasizing that we had to follow every step when analyzing a rhythm; shortcuts are dangerous because you can miss critical details on the rhythm strip. Then we had to practice, practice, practice. That repetition, combined with careful attention to every step, was the real key to my success.

Take your time now, and use ECG Success to improve your skills. Once you run into a genuine emergency you will have only minutes, or less, to interpret the ECG correctly and ensure the right treatment for the patient.

ECG Notes: Interpretation And Management Guide
Pocket Anatomy and Physiology
The key to ECG interpretation is pattern recognition, and pattern recognition is developed the same way as any skill--through repetition.

ECG Success illustrates the key features of all arrhythmias and presents multiple practice strips to allow the student to learn the subtle findings that help distinguish one from another. Organized by the seven categories of arrhythmias, ECG Success reviews the basics of ECGs (anatomy, physiology, electrophysiology, etc.), and provides a diverse group of strips for practice and testing pattern recognition. In addition, the book includes four practice tests, each with 75 randomized ECG strips, and a unit with more than ten case studies with multiple-choice questions and more ECG strips.

ECG Success covers all the information needed--anatomy and physiology, practice, case scenarios, and relevant emergency care--to help the reader feel competent and in control, whether faced with a nonthreatening ECG or an emergency situation.

Key Features
* 272 pages, soft cover, full color
* 455 full size, real life ECG strips
* Strips presented three ways: identified by type of problem, randomized, and embedded in case studies
* Arrhythmia chapters each include practice strips to analyze rhythm, rate, interval, interpretation, etc.
* Full color illustrations offer a quick review of cardiac anatomy and physiology
* Clinical Tips and Hints dispersed throughout provide valuable information on rhythm interpretation and how an arrhythmia can affect a patient.
* Includes a chapter on myocardial infarction and 12-lead ECGs
* Four 75-strip practice tests
* Appendices include guidelines for CPR, ACLS, and emergency medical skills and medications
* Designed to also be useful for recertification review

Table of Contents
Unit I--Heart Structure and Electrical Activity
1. Anatomy and Physiology of the Heart
2. The Electrocardiogram
Unit II--Rhythms and Their Analysis
3. Sinoatrial Node Arrhythmias
4. Atrial Arrhythmias
5. Junctional Arrhythmias
6. Ventricular Arrhythmias
7. Atrioventricular and Bundle Branch Blocks
8. Artificial Cardiac Pacemakers
9. Artifact
10. The 12-Lead ECG and Acute Myocardial Infarction
Unit III--ECG Practice Tests
11. ECG Practice Test One
12. ECG Practice Test Two
13. ECG Practice Test Three
14. ECG Practice Test Four
Unit IV--Case Studies
15. Case Studies One
16. Case Studies Two
Appendices
Appendix A: Healthcare Provider Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
Appendix B: Advanced Cardiac Life Support Protocols
Appendix C: Emergency Medications
Appendix D: Emergency Medical Skills

**FREE - 800 slide PowerPoint file to instructors adopting the text**

The great thing about the text is that instructors who adopt it for teaching can get a free 800 slide PowerPoint teaching presentation from the publisher. Over 500 ECG strips are included for practice, testing, and teaching. Plus all of the CPR, ACLS, cardiac medications, and cardiac skills are presented. Contact your F. A. Davis sales representative at www.fadavis.com or call 800-523-4049.

Dear Joanne, Please e-mail me. KennaNoone@aol.co

Arrhythmia recognition is the toughest part of EKG interpretation. Most books that teach it do so by illustrating each arrhythmia with a strip or two, usually using ideal examples. This approach leaves the reader ill prepared to recognize the variations that crop up in practice. The philosophy of this book is "you can't really know an arrhythmia unless you see it over and over".
This book covers all the atrial and ventricular arrhythmias. Each brief but thorough chapter concisely explains the electrophysiology of the abnormal rhythm, well illustrated by copious full color graphics, and ends with a series of analyzed strips and EKGs that show the arrythmia in all its possible presentations. As an example, I've always had a problem with recognizing atrial flutter at 2:1 conduction (anybody can recognize the 'saw tooth' pattern at higher ratios). After reading the chapter on the subject, I had it down cold.
There are also quizzes and practice EKGs to drive home the skill, and the book has a corresponding Web site with further resources. Highly recommended.

I have interest to read this book