medical Definition of alternans
: alternation in the pattern of activity (such as that produced by the heartbeat)
- Her electrocardiogram showed small spikes that alternated in shape—a classic sign of cardiac tamponade called electrical alternans.
- —Tony Dajer, Discover, March 2002
- The noninvasive detection of an increased risk of ventricular fibrillation may be made possible by the identification of T-wave alternans, a beat-to-beat fluctuation in the area under the T wave that is associated with an increased risk of lethal arrhythmia.
- —James E. Muller and Richard L. Verrier, The New England Journal of Medicine, 15 Feb. 1996
