Electrocardiogram – Electrical Heart Graph

Electrocardiogram Electrical Heart Graph

The most commonly heard word when talking about heart diseases is the electrocardiogram' and more commonly, it is known as ECG or EKG. The phobia of this long medical jargon can be prevented by calling it an electrical heart graph. Medically, it is the non-invasive procedure to record the electrical activity of the heart.

The term electrocardiogram was coined by Willem Einthoven in 1893 at the Dutch Medical Society meeting. In 1924, Einthoven received the Nobel Prize for his life's work in developing the ECG.

The ECG test is test is very common because it helps to screen many cardiac abnormalities and the machines are mostly available in all medical facilities and the test is very simple to perform, inexpensive and risk-free. An EKG is generally performed as part of routine physical exam, part of a cardiac exercise stress test, or part of the evaluation of symptoms of palpitations, fainting, shortness of breath, dizziness, fainting, or chest pain.

The procedure of ECG tracing is that electrodes are attached to arms, legs and chest and they detect the electrical impulses generated by heart and transmit them to the ECG machine. The ECG machine produces a graph (the ECG tracing) of those cardiac electrical impulses, which helps to check the abnormalities.

All those squiggly lines on the machine or the paper readings are actually the heart beats which doctors read and find out the abnormalities. The ECG tracing can determine the heart rhythm, rate, conduction abnormalities if any, whether there has been a prior heart attack or a coronary artery disease or has the heart muscle abnormally thickened. An evolving heart attack can also be predicted. Adverse effects on heart from lung conditions or inflammation of heart or its lining may also be known.

But ECG also has certain limitations like it reveals the rate and rhythm of heart only during that given time. The ECG can often be normal or nearly normal in patients with undiagnosed coronary artery disease or other forms of heart disease and many "abnormalities" that appear on the ECG turn out to have no medical significance after a thorough evaluation is done.

The ECG has evolved over the years with new advancements in technology. The standard 12-lead ECG is the one introduced in 1942 and used throughout the world. It is called 12-lead because it checks the electrical activity of the heart from 12 different contexts.

Technology, truly and literally, has reached our hearts today!

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