Hocus Pocus

Memory sure is a strange thing. Currently, I see patient's on a daily basis having Atrial Fib, Flutter, PVC, Vtach ablations, and what not. My memory does not recall, that I was writing about this topic 21 years ago (and studying it as well). But here is the proof.

Hocus Pocus

In this day of modern medicine
There's a topic and a focus,
Preventing sudden death
With a lot of hocus-pocus.

Take a heart, that's sick or injured
With a recent big M.I.,
You want to try to minimize
The risk of ectopie.

You might load them with some Lidocaine
Procainamide, Bretyllium,
Dietary fiber with
Colace and some psyllium,
To regulate conduction
In the bowels and the heart,
It's a basic fact of life
You have to
Let the poor guy fart.

You might try a new religion
If he's blocking without capture,
And if you convert just one more heathen
You will earn angelic rapture,
If you could get one hundred heart attacks
At a summertime revival,
Just think about the impact
On the sudden death survival.

Have you studied early bloomers
Or simple delayed potentials,
Be they premature or missing
And other fine essentials,
Does the corrected Q-T interval
Increase, despite your scrutiny,
Do you double up your bets
When you think their heart may mutiny,
With increasing T-wave ectopy
And ischemic irritation,
It may warrant intervention
Like bedside HIS ablation.

It's really very simple
Though it takes a steady stroke,
It requires a lengthy needle
Then just eyeball where to poke,
Drive the needle to its hub
And shake it all about,
If you do this hocus pocus
The ectopy comes out.

1993