One of the patients had had an extra heartbeat with a compensatory pause.

At first it was only one premature ventricular contraction followed by a compensatory pause.

These are not preceded by a pause; on the contrary they are often followed by a compensatory pause.

However, the time between the preceding and proceeding QRS waves stays the same as normal due to the compensatory pause.

PVCs can be distinguished from premature atrial contractions because the compensatory pause is longer following premature ventricular contractions.

The contribution of the compensatory pause, the pause between the PVC and the next normal beat, to HRT is also unknown.

Some investigators believe that the compensatory pause produces a single beat blood pressure increase beyond normal only in compromised hearts, whereas other investigators have shown that the single beat surge occurs in normal hearts as well.

However, the apical murmur of the Gallavardin phenomenon does not radiate to the left axilla and is accentuated by a slowing of the heart rate (such as a compensatory pause after a premature beat) whereas the mitral regurgitation murmur does not change.

DR. KONNER laces his memoir with references from the wider culture when he compares a compensatory pause in the heartbeat to the liberty taken by a pianist in a Chopin etude, or the bond among house officers (interns and residents) to Martin Buber's "I-Thou" relationship.