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Medical Definition of Torsade de pointes
1. "Twisting of the points" a form of ventricular tachycardia nearly always due to medications and characterised by a long QT interval and a "short-long-short" sequence in the beat preceding its onset. The QRS complexes during this rhythm tend to show a series of complexes points up followed by complexes points down often with a narrow waist between. At one time referred to as "cardiac ballet". Origin: Fr. Torsade, fringe, twist, or coil, + pointe, point or tip (euphonious for "wave burst") (05 Mar 2000)