What should you know before taking ECG?

As we all are aware, ECG is a simple and painless test taken to understand the conditions of a human’s heart. Any symptoms related to heart diseases such as palpitations, difficulty in breathing, and chest pain are detected with the help of this test.

Hearts diseases that can be detected with ECG are,

• Arrhythmias — A condition of irregular heartbeats.
• Coronary heart disease — where the blood supply to the heart is blocked.
• Heart attacks — A condition when blood supply to the heart is suddenly stopped.
• Cardiomyopathy — A case in which heart walls get thickened.

3 Types of ECG:

• Cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET): It is the evaluation of the cardiopulmonary system. This test is conducted to detect any pulmonary diseases.
• Exercise EKG (stress test): In this case, the patient’s heart is tested by making the patient walk or pedal a steady cycle which creates stress on the heart. This finds coronary artery disease.
• Holter monitor: This test is conducted by placing electrodes on the chest, arms, and legs for a longer period to check heart activity.
• Resting 12-lead EKG: A test conducted to determine the heart’s electrical function.
• Signal-averaged electrocardiogram: A type of ECG test conducted to determine abnormal heartbeats.

Are there any side effects of ECG?

It is a safe test. The patient doesn’t feel any pain. There is no harm from electricity as there is no flow of electricity in the body.

The patient may feel some discomfort due to pressure created after removing electrode clips but that doesn’t bring any damage to the body.