Basic cardiology: an approach to arrhythmias in the field

Cardiac arrhythmias are common in the horse. The aim of this lecture is to provide you with the skills to identify common arrhythmias that may be seen on a resting ECG and how to interpret their clinical significance. The lecture will begin with a review of the basic understanding of the electrophysiology of the heart. This will be followed by a practical discussion on how to obtain an electrocardiogram in the field using a convenient base apex lead system. Next, we will spend some time discussing how to interpret an electrocardiogram. The lecture will conclude with a detailed discussion on some common arrhythmias that you may encounter in practice.

• •Understand the basic electrophysiology of the heart and the electrical events that generate the electrocardiogram
• •Describe how to obtain a resting electrocardiogram
• •Understand how to interpret an electrocardiogram
• •Recognize common arrhythmias that may be identified on a resting electrocardiogram and explain their clinical significance.