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  • Beck’s triad

    The physical findings in cardiac tamponade: hypotension, distended neck veins, and muffling of the heart sounds.  

  • Becker muscular dystrophy

    An X-linked recessive form of muscular dystrophy, typically first becoming evident in adolescence as difficulty with gait or with pelvic girdle muscle strength. It is characterized pathologically by inadequate production of dystrophin and thus is similar to, but usually milder than, Duchenne muscular dystrophy. There exists a distinct variant of muscular dystrophy that primarily impacts…

  • Beck airway airflow monitor

    A device that is attached to the nasotracheal tube to help the intubator locate the sound of the air movement through the vocal cords.  

  • Beau’s lines

    White lines across the fingernails, usually a sign of systemic disease. They may be due to trauma, coronary occlusion, hypercalcemia, or skin disease. The lines are visible until the affected area of the nail has grown out and been trimmed away. Visible depressions running across the width of the natural nail plate; usually a result…

  • Premature beat

    An electrical impulse that arises from a site other than the sinus node in the heart, occurring before the expected sinus beat.  

  • Forced beat

    Extrasystole brought on by artificial heart stimulation.  

  • Escape beat

    A depolarization of the heart that occurs after a prolonged pause or after failure of the sinus node to generate an electric impulse. Most escape beats are generated in the ventricles. An escape beat is an automatic heartbeat that occurs following an unusually long pause in the heart rhythm. It acts as a delayed beat,…

  • Dropped beat

    A single interruption in the regular pacing of the electrical and mechanical activity of the heart. A specific kind of heart rhythm disorder is defined by the omission of one single heart contraction in the ventricles. The subsequent heartbeat usually occurs a bit ahead of schedule and tends to be stronger than the norm; it’s…

  • Captured beat

    A ventricular contraction directly stimulated by an electrical impulse either from the sinus node or from the pulse generator of a pacemaker.  

  • Artificially paced beat

    A heartbeat stimulated by an artificial pacemaker.  

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