EXCESSIVELY RAPID HEART RATES

Abstract
The ventricles of the human heart have rarely been observed to pulsate at a rate approaching 300 per minute. Only sixteen cases in which there was a ventricular rate of 280 or over were found in the literature (table 1). In ten of these the rate was confirmed by graphic tracing; in the remaining six the count was by stethoscope only. A ventricular rate of 300 beats per minute was recorded electrocardiographically in four cases. In no case was an electrocardiogram published showing a rate that exceeded 300 per minute. Werley1published a polygram presenting a ventricular rate of 307. Blackford and Willius2stated that a patient having auricular flutter with a two-to-one block entered their office during a paroxysm of one-to-one response which lasted nearly two hours. A heart rate of 320 was counted by means of the stethoscope. Later during the attack an electrocardiogram was taken

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