Electrocardiogram (ECG)

Electrocardiogram or ECG is a test of the electrical activity of the heart. It is used to diagnose heart attacks in people with chest pain. What are information that electrocardiogram tell to you? Find the answer on the following things:

• It tells us the heart rhythm, the heart rate, if there has been a heart attack or the early signs of a heart attack; whether the passage of electrical messages through the heart is normal – this would be abnormal if the electrical wiring of the heart is faulty.
• ECG also provides information on the thickness of the walls of the pumping chamber, which may be affected in patients with high blood pressure or a very narrowed outflow (aortic) valve. Some people have an abnormally thick wall of their pumping chamber (left ventricle), and this uncommon condition (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) is often picked up when an ECG is done for other reasons, for example, as part of health screening.

ECG is common test and procedure for people who are heart attack, angina, and also for another condition. Check these followings:

• Angina
  The ECG is usually normal in angina except when the patient has unstable angina with intermittent blocking of the heart artery.
• Heart attack
  It will be abnormal and remain abnormal in over 90% of patients who have had a heart attack. A normal ECG in a person with chest pain, unlikely to be due to the heart (for example, indigestion), would exclude a heart attack. The ECG may need to be repeated if it is initially normal in people suspected of having a heart attack, because sometimes the signs of a heart attack only appear on the ECG after a few hours. Some people with a heart attack may initially have a normal ECG.
• Palpitations – awareness of the heartbeat
  If recorded while the patient is having palpitations, the ECG is very useful. It may show an abnormal heart rhythm at the time the patient is feeling the palpitations. It may be normal, showing that the cause of the palpitations is not related to a disturbance of the heart’s rhythm.
• Heart failure
  A normal ECG makes heart failure unlikely.

If you doesn’t have problem with you heart, the ECG’s result will be seen as this following curve:

After knowing the used of ECG, you’ve better also known about its procedure. Here are 5 steps of Electrocardiogram to be done:

1. The patient lies quietly and still on a table, having stripped to the waist.
2. In order to get good electrical contact between the electrodes (which detect the heart’s electrical activity through the skin) and the skin, the skin may be cleaned first with alcohol and rubbed with fine sandpaper. Men may need to have the hair on their chest shaved.
3. Six electrodes are stuck on the chest in certain positions, one on each wrist, and one just above each ankle.
4. These electrodes are connected to the ECG machine with clips attached to cables.
5. It takes less than a minute.

To be clearer you can see this picture:

Electrocardiogram is safe procedure for heart attack or angina. It is not dangerous and also not hurt. For pregnant women, it is also safe.

Tagged : different heart rhythms ecg, ecg wallpaper, heart, Heart Attack, procedure, sample normal ecg cardiogram, test