Electrocardiogram
The ECG or electrocardiogram examines the flow of electricity around the heart and in a cooperative child it takes about 5 minutes. The heart generates electric current that powers the squeeze of the heart muscle, it’s a tiny amount of current that cannot be felt although the flow of this electricity can be studied by ECG. Similar to echo the baby/child needs to be very still to get reliable results. Stickers are applied to the chest, arms and legs, cables (leads) connect stickers to ECG machine.
ECG is an essential component of basic cardiac investigations and complements the echocardiogram by evaluating the cardiac conduction (electrical) system. The cardiac electrical system cannot be evaluated by echocardiogram. WPW pattern on ECG with delta wave, long QT syndrome, ventricular or supraventricualr ectopy are some examples of important ECG based diagnoses.
