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Post by Brian G on Feb 24, 2015 23:23:33 GMT
I am positive there is something to these tropic things... Chronotropic, dromotropic, and inotropic are terms related to the effect of drugs on the heart.
Chronotropic is heart rate or rhythm. Think chrono=time, how many times a minute it beats. Positive chronotrope increases the pulse rate, negative decreases.
Dromotropic is speed of AV node conduction-how fast the conduction goes from the SA node down through the AV node. Think of a DC battery (Dromo/DC). It has a charge that flows, the current.
And the other one is Inotropic-the force of contraction.
So for example, Digoxin is a positive inotrope and negative chronotrope. It increases the force of contraction and decreases how often it contracts. It makes a heart that is beating really fast and irregularly like it does with AFIB (flutter your fingers around real fast, the fingertips just barely tapping your palm) and slows it down, contracting more forcefully (now squeeze your fist slowly and firmly to a nice beat).
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