J
Electrocardiol 2003;36:349-353
Short
title: Atrial Escape-Capture Bigeminy
From
*Katoh Cardiovascular Clinic, Ohtsu; †Hokkaido Women's University, Ebetsu,
Hokkaido; and ‡Yasuda Clinic, Moriyama; ¶Division of Cardiology and §Clinical Laboratory Ohtsu Municipal
Hospital; Japan.
This
study was supported by a Special Grant from Hokkaido Asai Gakuen University,
Ebetsu, Japan.
Address
for correspondence: Shinji Kinoshita, MD, School of Human Services, Hokkaido
Women's University, Bunkyodai 23, Ebetsu, Hokkaido 069-8511, Japan.
FAX:
81-11-387-3692
Abstract
A 27-year-old woman with
atrial bigeminy is reported in whom long PP intervals alternate with short PP
intervals. All P waves are
negative in lead II and all PR intervals measure 0.12 second. In the 12-lead electrocardiogram,
however, these P waves were definitely different in configuration from each
other, and were divided into two groups.
Namely, these negative P waves are divided into those of dominant atrial
rhythm J1 with 2:1 exit block, and those of atrial escape J2. Long J1-J2 intervals alternate with
short J2-J1 intervals. These
electrocardiographic findings show the presence of atrial escape-capture bigeminy. Such atrial escape-capture bigeminy in
dominant atrial rhythm with 2:1 exit block has never been reported before.
Key words: escape-capture
bigeminy, dominant atrial rhythm, sick sinus syndrome.