Electrocardiography

Electrocardiography is the process of producing an electrocardiogram, a recording of the heart's electrical activity through repeated cardiac cycles. It is an electrogram of the heart which is a graph of voltage versus time of the electrical activity of the heart using electrodes placed on the skin. These electrodes detect the small electrical changes that are a consequence of cardiac muscle depolarization followed by repolarization during each cardiac cycle (heartbeat). Changes in the normal ECG pattern occur in numerous cardiac abnormalities, including:

• Cardiac rhythm disturbances, such as atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia;
• Inadequate coronary artery blood flow, such as myocardial ischemia and myocardial infarction;

• and electrolyte disturbances, such as hypokalemia.