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Electrocardiography is the process of producing an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG [a]), a recording of the heart's electrical activity through repeated cardiac cycles. [4] It is an electrogram of the heart which is a graph of voltage versus time of the electrical activity of the heart [ 5 ] using electrodes placed on the skin.
Schematic representation of a normal sinus rhythm EKG wave. In electrocardiography, the PR interval is the period, measured in milliseconds, that extends from the beginning of the P wave (the onset of atrial depolarization) until the beginning of the QRS complex (the onset of ventricular depolarization); it is normally between 120 and 200 ms in duration.
The action potential of a ventricular myocyte. In electrocardiography, the ventricular cardiomyocyte membrane potential is about −90 mV at rest, [1] which is close to the potassium reversal potential. When an action potential is generated, the membrane potential rises above this level in five distinct phases. [1]
Exceptions to this include complete heart block and certain ventricular artificial pacemaker rhythms, where the P waves may be completely normal in shape, but ventricular depolarization bears no relation to them; in these cases, the speed of the "sinus rhythm of the atria" and the speed of the ventricular rhythm must be calculated separately. [2]
The ECG will show a terminal R wave in lead V1 and a slurred S wave in lead I. Left bundle branch block widens the entire QRS, and in most cases shifts the heart's electrical axis to the left. The ECG will show a QS or rS complex in lead V1 and a monophasic R wave in lead I.
The hexaxial reference system is a diagram that is used to determine the heart's electrical axis in the frontal plane.. In electrocardiography, left axis deviation (LAD) is a condition wherein the mean electrical axis of ventricular contraction of the heart lies in a frontal plane direction between −30° and −90°.
In the presence of bundle branch block or ventricular hypertrophy, the depolarization impulse takes a longer than normal period of time to reach the recording electrode. This delays the onset of the intrinsicoid deflection. This prolongation or delay is an important criterion for diagnosing bundle branch block or ventricular hypertrophy.
Repolarization of the ventricle happens in the opposite direction of depolarization and is negative current, signifying the relaxation of the cardiac muscle of the ventricles. But this negative flow causes a positive T wave; although the cell becomes more negatively charged, the net effect is in the positive direction, and the ECG reports this ...