Sinus Rhythms

Sinus Dysrhythmia (Arrhythmia) ECG Interpretation

Description

Sinus Dysrhythmia often occurs as a normal variant. It is commonly seen in young healthy people and athletes. It is frequently related to breathing and pressure on the vagus nerve. As the patient inhales and the lungs expand, pressure is applied to the vagus nerve which causes a parasympathetic response and a decrease in heart rate.
Sinus Dysrhythmia ECGs may also occur as a result of medication effects or diseases such as multiple sclerosis.
This dysrhythmia often requires no treatment, but may require medication or therapy such as a pacemaker to regulate the heart rate if the ventricular response becomes too slow.
Sinus Dysrhythmia closely resembles Normal Sinus Rhythm with the only distinction being the intervals from one cardiac complex to the next are changing as influenced by the patients respiratory pattern.
Note the changing R to R Intervals.

Analyze this tracing using the five steps of rhythm analysis.

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Authors and Sources

Electrocardiography for Healthcare Professionals, 6th Edition Kathryn Booth and Thomas O'Brien
ISBN10: 1265013470, ISBN13: 9781265013479
McGraw Hill, 2023
Rapid Interpretation of EKG's, Sixth Edition
Dale Dublin
Cover Publishing Company
EKG Reference Guide
EKG.Academy
12 Lead EKG for Nurses: Simple Steps to Interpret Rhythms, Arrhythmias, Blocks, Hypertrophy, Infarcts, & Cardiac Drugs
Aaron Reed
Create Space Independent Publishing
Heart Sounds and Murmurs: A Practical Guide with Audio CD-ROM 3rd Edition
Elsevier-Health Sciences Division
Barbara A. Erickson, PhD, RN, CCRN
The Virtual Cardiac Patient: A Multimedia Guide to Heart Sounds, Murmurs, EKG Jonathan Keroes, David Lieberman
Publisher: Lippincott Williams & Wilkin)
ISBN-10: 0781784425; ISBN-13: 978-0781784429
Project Semilla, UCLA Emergency Medicine, EKG Training Breena R. Taira, MD, MPH
ECG Reference Guide
PracticalClinicalSkills.com