[Arrhythmia during endoscopy of the upper gastrointestinal tract]

Continuous++ electrocardiographic monitoring was performed before, during and after endoscopy on 203 patients undergoing upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Significant increase of cardiac arrhythmias during fiberoscopy (on 49,83% of the examined patients) was noted. The most common were: tachycardia over 120 beats per minute, ventricular and supraventricular premature beats and ischemic changes in the heart. These changes were increasing in the majority of the examined patients. However, much more of them were observed in patients with coexisting cardiovascular diseases. The research showed that the premedication influences the increase of cardiac arrhythmias and ischemic changes during panendoscopy, mainly with patients with coexisting cardiovascular diseases. The largert number of cardiac arrhythmias appeared during the introduction of the endoscope into the throut and the esophagus.