4/22/2013

EKG: Apparent Atrial Flutter (Artifact due to muscle tremor)

13 yr old girl, transferred to ICU for Atrial Flutter noted in the trace below. She also had muscle tremors and neurologically obtunded. EKG & Pulse oximeter trace on in the upper panel.
(Click on the image to enlarge)
The following Doppler trace was obtained by placing the sampling cursor midway between Mitral inflow and Aortic outflow (2D image is upside down as is the standard in adult cardiology). There is one-to-one correspondence of mitral inflow to aortic outflow indicating lack of Atrial flutter with 2:1 or 3:1 conduction. Conclusion: Sinus tachycardia. When muscle tremors subsided, the baseline was normal with small P waves (& QRS complexes) were noted due to a concomittant pericardial effusion.


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