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Osborn Waves: History and Significance

Maruyama, Mitsunori and Kobayashi, Yoshinori and Kodani, Eitaroh and Hirayama, Yoshiyuki and Atarashi, Hirotsugu and Katoh, Takao and Takano, Teruo (2004) Osborn Waves: History and Significance. [Journal (Paginated)]

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Abstract

The Osborn wave is a deflection with a dome or hump configuration occurring at the R-ST junction (J point) on the ECG (Fig. 1). In the historical view, different names have been used for this wave in the medical literature, such as “camel-hump sign”, “late delta wave”, “hathook junction”, “hypothermic wave”, “J point wave”, “K wave”, “H wave” and “current of injury”.1 Although there is no definite consensus about terminology of this wave, either “Osborn wave” or “J wave” are the most commonly used names for this wave in the current clinical and experimental cardiology. The Osborn wave can be generally observed in hypothermic patients,1,2,3,4 however, other conditions have been reported to cause Osborn waves, such as hypercalcemia,5 brain injury,6 subarachnoid hemorrhage,7 cardiopulmonary arrest from oversedation,8 vasospastic angina,9 or idiopathic ventricular fibrillation.10,11,12 Our knowledge about the link between the Osborn waves and cardiac arrhythmias remains sparse and the arrhythmogenic potential of the Osborn waves is not fully understood. In this paper, we present a historic review of Osborn waves and discuss their clinical significance in the various clinical settings.

Item Type:Journal (Paginated)
Keywords:Osborn wave, J wave, hypothermia, hypercalcemia, myocardial ischemia, ventricular fibrillation, history, clinical significance
Subjects:JOURNALS > Indian Pacing and Electrophysiology Journal
ID Code:4238
Deposited By: Indian Pacing and Electrophysiology, Journal
Deposited On:17 Apr 2005
Last Modified:11 Mar 2011 08:55

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