Electrocardiography (ECG)
Electrocardiography, also known as ECG or EKG, is a non-invasive diagnostic test that measures the electrical activity of the heart. It is a widely used tool in the evaluation and management of cardiovascular diseases. The heart is a muscular organ that pumps blood to the body’s organs and tissues. It does this through a coordinated electrical system that triggers the heart muscle to contract and relaxes in a specific sequence. This electrical activity produces a pattern of waveforms, called an ECG or EKG, which can be recorded and analyzed.
To perform an ECG, small, sticky electrodes are placed on the skin of the chest, arms, and legs. These electrodes are connected to a machine that amplifies and records the electrical signals produced by the heart. The test is painless and usually takes only a few minutes to complete. The resulting ECG tracing is a graphical representation of the electrical activity of the heart. It consists of several waveforms that represent different phases of the cardiac cycle. The main components of an ECG include the P wave, QRS complex, and T wave. The P wave represents the electrical activity of the atria, the QRS complex represents the electrical activity of the ventricles, and the T wave represents the recovery of the ventricles. Doctors use ECGs to diagnose a variety of heart conditions, including arrhythmias, heart attacks, and heart failure. They can also use the test to monitor the effectiveness of treatment and track changes in the heart’s electrical activity over time.
