An electrocardiography or ECG is basically one of the most common heart tests which records the electrical activity of your heart to look for any signs of abnormal activity. Your doctor may recommend an ECG for a number of reasons, such as irregular heartbeat, shortness of breath, high blood pressure or other suspected heart problems. An ECG is a useful way of determining the causes for this abnormal activity and ruling out life-threatening health problems.
How is the test performed?
A standard ECG test involves 10 electrodes that are attached to your ankles, wrists and your chest using sticky pads. In this standard ECG test, you must lie flat and relax so the machine can make more reliable recordings. However, with new technologies, like our very own ECGAlert heart monitoring solution, you can record you heart activity without being strapped to a huge ECG machine and a bunch of electrodes. This new method is far superior to the standard one because it records your heart’s activity 24/7 as opposed to the short time frame that the old method allows, thus giving you far more useful data on your heart’s activity which can be analyzed by cardiologists.
What will the results reveal?
If your test comes out as abnormal, your doctor will be able to see if you have any of the following issues:
Irregular heartbeat (an arrhythmia)
Problems with the spread of electrical activity within the heart
An enlarged heart
Areas of the heart with reduced blood supply
A ‘silent’ heart attack (an interruption to blood flow in the coronary arteries without usual heart attack symptoms)
I have done my ECG test. What’s next?
Depending on the results, your cardiologist may recommend other tests such as CT angiogram or a coronary angiogram to see if your blood flow is obstructed. Your cardiologist may also recommend wearing a monitor for a prolonged period, so it can make recordings during different body states, like when you are exercising, resting, riding a bike, etc. This is where our ECGAlert solution comes in handy as it can make 24/7 recordings, and with a battery that lasts up to 7 days, you do not need to worry about stopping your recording.