Author/Authors :
Scott Troutman, Gregory Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA , Salamon, Jason Department of Medicine - Division of Cardiology - Morristown Medical Center - Atlantic Medical Group, Morristown, NJ, USA , Scharf, Matthew Department of Medicine - Division of Sleep Medicine - Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick, NJ, USA , Mazurek, Jeremy A. Department of Medicine - Division of Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology - Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Abstract :
Osborn waves, or J waves, initially described by John Osborn in 1953 in hypothermic dog experiments, are highly sensitive and
specific for hypothermia. Initially thought to be secondary to a hypothermia-induced “injury current,” they have more recently
been attributed to a voltage differential between epicardial and endocardial potassium (Ito) currents. While the exact conditions
required to induce such waves have been debated, numerous clinical scenarios of environmental and iatrogenic hypothermia
have been described. Below, we report a novel case of hypothermia—that of neurosarcoidosis-induced central hypothermia with
resultant Osborn waves and other associated findings found on electrocardiogram (ECG).
