ECG Device: Easy Detection of Heart Problems
Cardiovascular diseases still hold the record for being the biggest cause of deaths worldwide. These conditions are brought about by the problems in the heart blood vessel and its electrical activity. Typically, they become noticeable in many ways including abnormal heart rhythms. An electrocardiogram monitor or ECG device interprets the heart’s activity and provide health professionals the information they need to detect the presence of any heart disease.
Through the electrodes attached in the outer surface of the skin and recorded by an external device, it is possible to monitor irregular heartbeats and atrial fibrillation. A fib is regarded to be the most common form of cardiac arrhythmia. About 2.2 million Americans have this disorder wherein unsystematic electrical impulses from the roots of the pulmonary veins overwhelm the regular impulses from the sinoatrial node and therefore lead to the unbalanced transmission of impulses to the ventricles which produce the heartbeat. With this, the heart’s two small upper chambers tremble instead of beating regularly and blood is not pushed and impelled entirely out of them. In turn, the blood just sets and then coagulates or clots. Once this blood clot in the atria finds its way and resides in the brain, then stroke happens.
There may be no general symptoms but palpitations, fainting, chest pains and congestive heart failures may be associated with this condition. AF increases the risk of stroke that is why early diagnosis is really important and can help a person act out immediately on possible preventions or treatments. Aside from the rate and regularity of beats, the heart’s size, place of the chambers, and occurrence of any damage on it can also be identified through electrocardiography.
When a patient has been diagnosed with abnormal heart rhythm, constant monitoring is needed. However, the hassle of going to the hospital and undergoing through heart screenings serves as a hindrance to some people specially those who are busy and are having a hard time to personally visit the hospital or clinic and see the healthcare expert or lab technician who will conduct the tests. Yet, with the latest advancement in technology, the availability of compact equipment, such as a portable ECG Device, people are now given a chance to do their own tests in their own time and convenience at home.
Typically, the traditional electrocardiography performed by a doctor or a med tech will include twelve soft patches of electrodes placed on the patient’s chest, legs, and arms which will determine the heart’s electric impulses. The results of this detection will then appear on a monitor and can later be printed on graph paper. But today, with the small hand-held electrocardiograms, all you need are batteries, and with leads connected to the body or just through the fingertips, a person can see his heart’s electrical activity in the small LCD screen. No clinic appointments to be made or trained technicians needed. A person can conduct this screening by himself in his living room and just take the results to his doctor later on. Some of these compact machines offer other advanced features such as the detection of the type of abnormal heart rhythms.
While a portable ECG device provides great convenience, users must still remember to consult their physicians and not to diagnose and interpret their own conditions.