The American journal of cardiology
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A prospective study of a computerized arrhythmia alarm system was carried out in the coronary care unit during 200 patient hours of monitoring. The computer system was designed to activate an alarm on the development of rhythm and conduction disorders including asystole, ventricular tachycardia, atrial tachycardia, sinus tachtcardia, bradycardia, frequent premature ventricular beats, atrial fibrillation and bundle branch block. Study patients were simultaneously monitored by the computer system and a conventional analog heart rate alarm system. ⋯ Of 79 computer alarms, 42 (53 percent) were true positive alarms; during the same period there were 167 analog alarms of which only 13 (8 percent) were true positive alarms. In both systems, false positive alarms were primarily due to patient movement, but they occurred only 25 percent as often with the computer system as with the analog system. These results indicate that computerized arrhythmia monitoring systems offer significant advantages over conventional monitoring techniques.
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Anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery is a rare and usually fatal congenital malformation. Most surgical attempts to correct this anomaly have been unsuccessful, particularly those in infants. ⋯ This technique of reimplantation of the aberrant vessel into the aorta appears to be prefereble to other methods of repair, especially since it can be applied in any patient with the anomaly regardless of age or size. Because of the poor prognosis for patients with anomalous left coronary artery, surgical intervention should be made as soon as the diagnosis is made.