TWENTYFOUR-HOUR AMBULATORY ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHIC MONITORING OF SURGEONS

The objective of the present study was to study the heart rate, presen ce of arrhythmia, and changes in the ST segment of surgeons with 24-ho ur ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring. Eleven surgeons of seve ral specialities were evaluated. All surgeons had one to three operati ons on the day of the recording. Heart rate, presence of arrhythmia, a nd changes in the ST segment were determined during the following surg eons' activities: operation, sleeping, car driving, patient appointmen t, and eating. There was a difference in the mean heart rate among the activities (p = 0.0004). The lowest mean heart rate was registered du ring sleeping and the highest during operation. Two surgeons had arrhy thmias: one had premature ventricular contractions (0.6% of total vent ricular contractions) and the other rare premature atrial contractions (0.05% of total atrial contractions) in addition to isolated prematur e ventricular contractions (< 0.1% of total ventricular contractions). There was no significant difference in frequency of arrhythmia during the activities (p = 0.7150). One patient had periods of inverted T wa ves. It is concluded that the heart rate of surgeons increases signifi cantly during surgery and that the occurrence of cardiac arrhythmias i s not increased in surgeons with no cardiovascular disease during surg ery.