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Patient
54-year-old woman with mitral valve disease, chronic renal failure, moderate anemia; hospitalization for cardiac decompensation due to febrile bronchitis;
Trace
This tracing shows a tachycardia of 170 bpm of sinus origin (1:1 atria/ventricles ratio, atrial activity preceding the positive QRS complex in leads I, II, V5, V6, negative in aVR); probable left ventricular hypertrophy with increase in S wave voltage in V3 and R wave voltage in V5;
Exergue
In a majority of cases, sinus tachycardia should not be considered as a genuine rhythm disorder, but as a physiological response adapted to an increased metabolic need or to a general pathological process.
This patient has a sinus tachycardia which is defined as a resting sinus rate greater than 100 bpm. The electrocardiographic diagnosis of sinus tachycardia is straightforward if the tachycardia is not very rapid allowing good differentiation between P waves, QRS complexes and T waves.