RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Serial electrocardiographic changes in healthy and stressed neonates.
JF Archives of Disease in Childhood
JO Arch Dis Child
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
SP 605
OP 611
DO 10.1136/adc.58.8.605
VO 58
IS 8
A1 R Jedeikin
A1 A Primhak
A1 A T Shennan
A1 P R Swyer
A1 R D Rowe
YR 1983
UL http://adc.bmj.com/content/58/8/605.abstract
AB Serial changes in T-wave vector and polarity were assessed in 162 electrocardiograms, 117 from 44 healthy term neonates and 45 from 17 stressed neonates. Records were taken at 5 to 8 hours, 24 to 33 hours, and 71 to 96 hours after birth. Sequential changes in both T-wave amplitude and frontal and horizontal axes were found in both groups. A lag period was noted between healthy and stressed infants when comparing changes in T-wave amplitude, with greater flattening of T-waves for longer periods of time after birth in the stressed group. The normal changes in T-wave axis over time in the horizontal and frontal planes showed a similar lag in the stressed group. Alterations of T-wave amplitude and axis alone may be markers of myocardial ischaemia in neonates but are only reliable signs after the first 24 hours of life.