Septic and antiseptic

Electrocardiogram

Electrocardiography (ECG/EKG in German vernacular. Elektrokardiogram) monitors electrical activity of the heart, primarily as recorded from the skin surface. A 12 lead recording, recording the electrical activity in three planes, anterior, posterior, and lateral is the most commonly used form. The ECG allows observation of the heart electrical activity by visualizing waveform beat origin (typically from the sinoatrial or SA node) following down the bundle of HIS and ultimately stimulating the ventricles to contract forcing blood through the body. Much can be learned by observing the QRS morphology (named for the respective portions of the polarization/repolarization waveform of the wave, P,Q,R,S,T wave). Rhythm abnormalities can also be visualized as in slow heart rate bradycardia, or fast heart rate tachycardia.

Cardiac stress testing is used to determine to assess cardiac function and to disclose evidence of exertion-related cardiac hypoxia. Radionuclide testing using thallium or technetium can be used tos of perfusion abnormalities. With a maximal stress test the level of exercise is increased until the patient heart rate will not increase any higher, despite increased exercise. A fairly accurate estimate of the target heart rate, based on extensive clinical research, can be estimated by the formula 220 beats per minute minus patient's age. This linear relation is accurate up to about age 30, after which it mildly underestimates typical maximum attainable heart rates achievable by healthy individuals. Other formulas exist, such as that by Miller (217 - (0.85 × Age)) and others [1]. Achieving a high enough heart rate at the end of exercise is critical to improving the sensitivity of the test to detect high grade heart artery stenosis.

The electrophysiology study or EP study is the end all of electrophysiological tests of the heart. It involves a catheter with electrodes probing the endocardium, the inside of the heart, and testing the conduction pathways and electrical activity of individual areas of the heart.

septic and antiseptic

Antiseptics (from Greek ἀντί: anti, '"against"+ σηπτικός: sēptikos, "putrefactive") are antimicrobial substances that are applied to living tissue/skin to reduce the possibility of infection, sepsis, or putrefaction.

Antiseptics are generally distinguished from antibiotics by the latter's ability to be transported through the lymphatic system to destroy bacteria within the body, and from disinfectants, which destroy microorganisms found on non-living objects.

Some antiseptics are true germicides, capable of destroying microbes (bacteriocidal), while others are bacteriostatic and only prevent or inhibit their growth.

Antibacterials are antiseptics that have the proven ability to act against bacteria. Microbicides which destroy virus particles are called viricides or antivirals.

Some common antiseptics

Alcohols, most commonly ethanol (60?90%), 1-propanol (60?70%) and 2-propanol/isopropanol (70?80%) or mixtures of these alcohols, are commonly referred to as "surgical alcohol", and are used to disinfect the skin before injections are given, often along with iodine (tincture of iodine) or some cationic surfactants (benzalkonium chloride 0.05?0.5%, chlorhexidine 0.2?4.0% or octenidine dihydrochloride 0.1?2.0%).

Quaternary ammonium compounds, also known as quats or QACs, include the chemicals benzalkonium chloride, cetyl trimethylammonium bromide, cetylpyridinium chloride, and benzethonium chloride. Benzalkonium chloride is used in some preoperative skin disinfectants (0.05?0.5%) and antiseptic towels. The antimicrobial activity of quats is inactivated by anionic surfactants, such as soaps. Related disinfectants include chlorhexidine and octenidine.

Boric acid is used in suppositories to treat yeast infections of the vagina, in eyewashes, as an antiviral to shorten the duration of cold sore attacks, in creams for burns, and trace amounts in eye contact solutions.

Brilliant green is a triarylmethane dye still widely used as 1% ethanol solution in Eastern Europe and ex-USSR countries for treatment of small wounds and abscesses. It is efficient against Gram-positive bacteria.

Chlorhexidine gluconate, a biguanidine derivative, is used in concentrations of 0.5?4.0% alone or in lower concentrations in combination with other compounds, such as alcohols as a skin antiseptic and to treat inflammation of the gums (gingivitis). The microbicidal action is somewhat slow, but remanent. It is a cationic surfactant, similar to quats.

Date: 2016-06-12; view: 195