The ECG Made Easy

A pocket-sized introduction that teaches the electrocardiogram as pattern recognition resting on a few rules. The opening chapters explain what the tracing shows and does not show, the electricity of the heart, the shape of the ECG, how to record it, the parts of the QRS complex and how to report a tracing. The core of the book works through rhythm: intrinsic rhythmicity, the types of abnormal rhythm, tachycardias, extrasystoles, fibrillation, Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, and conduction problems in the AV node, the His bundle and the bundle branches. Abnormalities of the P wave, QRS complex, ST segment and T wave follow, then myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism and a differential diagnosis of ECG changes, with reminders and self-test sections throughout.