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May 18, 1979, Vol 241, No. 20 >
ARTICLE | May 18, 1979

Electrocardiographic Terminology

Sanford Pinna, MD
JAMA. 1979;241(20):2141. doi:10.1001/jama.1979.03290460011003.
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ABSTRACT

To the Editor.—  I would like to applaud David H. Spodick, MD, DSc, on his remarkably enlightening essay on ECG terminology (240:2439, 1978). Seldom has Occam's razor been so deftly wielded.Yet, might I point out that "ventricular ectopic beat" still leaves me somewhat puzzled. I can understand "ventricular" and "ectopic," but not "beat." A "beat" as a noun is defined many ways in many lexicons but always denotes an action of some sort. Since we wish to avoid the term "contraction" on the grounds of the possibility of electro-mechanical-dissociation of the type where no contraction occurs, we should not use the term "beat," which does imply an action (in this case a contraction, and of course, we do not know if a contraction has occurred).Several better terms occur to me, such as "complex" or "inscription." If one uses "complex," the abbreviation "VEC" might be misconstrued with the unwanted

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