Glossary

Bigeminy is a term used to define a particular type of heart rhythm characterized by one normal heartbeat followed by a premature beat, then a “compensatory” pause, with that cycle repeated over and over.  In text form the rhythm could be described as  “BEAT-skip …pause… BEAT-skip …pause… BEAT-skip …pause…”

The term can be used to describe either PACs or PVCs, but is so common in describing PVCs that bigeminy is usually assumed to be referring to premature ventricular contractions, where if the premature contractions are originating in the atria, they will often be described as “bigeminal PACs.”

On the electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) below you can see bigeminal PVCs, a repeating pattern of a normal sinus beat and a PVC.

Thanks to Lisa33167 for the EKG

Blood Pressure (BP) is the pressure exerted by the blood against the walls of the blood vessels, especially the arteries.  It varies with the strength of the heartbeat, the elasticity of the arterial walls, the volume and viscosity of the blood, and a person’s health, age, and physical condition.

The importance of blood pressure is that it effectively provides a store of energy, generated by the heart, available to cause blood to flow through the working tissues.  It is actually the flow of blood, providing oxygen and nutrients and removing waste products including carbon dioxide, which is really the important factor, but without pressure there would be no flow.  Humans, being upright bipedal animals, have a particular problem in supplying blood to all parts of the body.  Due just to gravity, pressure in arteries supplying the head is about 100mm Hg less than that in arteries in the feet.  The fact that the brain must have an adequate arterial pressure places a limitation on the range of effective pressures in the upright person.

Beats per Minute (BPM) is a unit typically used as a measure of one’s heart rate.  A rate of 60 bpm means that one beat will occur every second.