Limb lead reversal (left and right arm swapped) on a 12-lead ECG

Lead I is upside down all the way through (inverted P, QRS and T), aVR looks upright, and the chest leads are normal: the arm electrodes are on the wrong arms.

What to look for

Swap the left and right arm electrodes and lead I flips upside down: P, QRS and T all inverted. II and III trade places, aVR and aVL trade places, and aVR can look upright. The chest leads don't use the arm electrodes the same way, so they look normal, with the R wave growing across V1-V6. That normal R progression is what separates it from dextrocardia. You placed the electrodes, so this one is yours to catch: fix them and repeat the 12-lead before anyone reads it as disease.

Examples

Each is a standard 12-lead: 2.5 seconds of each lead in four columns, with 10 seconds of lead II along the bottom, drawn to scale (25 mm a second, 10 mm a millivolt). The measurements are under each one.

Example 1 · 12-lead · 10 seconds
IaVRV1V4IIaVLV2V5IIIaVFV3V6II25 mm/s · 10 mm/mV
Rate
80/min
Rhythm
RegularSinus: upright in II, biphasic in V1, one before every QRS
PR
0.12 s
QRS
0.09 s, narrow
Axis
152°, right axis deviation
QTc
0.38 s
ST up
None
ST down
None
T inverted
I, aVL
Also
Inverted P wave in lead I · Tall, narrow, peaked T waves across V2-V4
Example 2 · 12-lead · 10 seconds
IaVRV1V4IIaVLV2V5IIIaVFV3V6II25 mm/s · 10 mm/mV
Rate
71/min
Rhythm
RegularSinus: upright in II, biphasic in V1, one before every QRS
PR
0.16 s
QRS
0.09 s, narrow
Axis
156°, right axis deviation
QTc
0.41 s
ST up
None
ST down
None
T inverted
I, aVL
Also
Inverted P wave in lead I

Don't confuse it with

The ECG tool in the app gives you a new 12-lead every time and walks you through reading it: rate, QRS, axis, then where the ST is up and down. It's part of the Paramedic level, and you can try 5 ECGs a day free.

Try the 12-lead drill

Where the criteria come from

Others in the look-alikes and other findings group