A lady with Romano-Ward syndrome.
Long QT interval
- The QT interval normally varies with heart rate - becoming shorter at faster rates. It is usually corrected using the cycle length (R-R interval) as shown opposite.
- normal QTc = 0.42 seconds
Romano-Ward syndrome is an autosomal dominantly inherited form of long QT interval and there is a risk of recurrent ventricular tachycardia, particularly Torsade de Pointes.
Ventricular premature beats (VPBs)
- 2 ventricular premature beats are also shown in this ECG
- They are
- broad
- occur earlier than normal
- and are followed by a full compensatory pause (the distance between the normal beats before and after the VPB is equal to twice the normal cycle length).