What is ECG

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ECG (electrocardiogram) is a test which measures the electrical movement of the heart. The heart is a muscular organ which beats in tempo to pump the blood through the body. The signals come from the senatorial mode which makes the heart’s muscle fibers’ contract, which is the natural pacesetter of the heart. What is ECG and how is it performed has been answered effectively below.

The test measures the electrical impulses which occur when the heart is beating the results are usually shown on a piece of paper in an ECG analysis. This is called electrocardiogram and records any trouble with the beat of the heart and the transmission of the heart beat through the heart that could be affected by original heart disease.

What is ECG and How is it Performed?

It depends on what is being measured. Normally, an ECG is taken while the patient is resting. However, if there’s concern that the patient’s symptoms might be caused by coronary artery disease, the test is performed while the patient is on a treadmill or an exercise bike. It could also be used to judge the success of coronary revascularization or drug treatment such as bypass surgery or coronary intervention.

It might be essential to supplement an ECG with extra tests, such as a radioisotope perfusion scan which uses low dosage radioactive dye to illustrate which areas of the heart muscle get the best and worst blood supply or angiography (X ray assessment of arteries) to determine the degree of the illness and the cause of symptoms.

An ECG is performed in the following ways:

• Up to 12 self-adhesive electrodes would be attached to select locations of the skin on the legs, arms and chest. Areas such as chest might need to be shaved where the electrodes would be placed. The skin is also cleaned before starting the test. This test is completely painless and takes less than a minute to execute once the leads are in position. The electrodes are removed after the test is performed.
• After the test, the doctor would evaluate the paper print out of the ECG

Use of Resting ECG

The information derived from an ECG could be used to determine different types of heart disease. It might be helpful for seeing how well the patient is responding to the treatment.

• It’s better to have an ECG performed, if there are symptoms such as chest pain (angina), dyspnoea (difficulty in breathing), palpitations, fainting or when someone could feel that their own heart beat is irregular.
• The test could show proof of disease in the coronary arteries. Sadly, in several people the ECG recording made at rest is normal who have significant narrowing of the arteries supplying blood to the heart. Thus, if a noteworthy narrowing is alleged, an ECG recording is frequently made when the patient is exercising as it’s more likely to reveal the problem.
• An ECG could be used to evaluate if the patient has had a heart attack or proof of an earlier attack. It could also be used to examine the effect of medicines used for coronary artery disease.

An ECG might appear normal even in the existence of major heart disease. Hence, for a full evaluation of the heart, other tests might be required.