Electrocardiogram EKG Essays Example

Heart muscles require oxygen-rich blood for its nourishment. and coronary arteries in our body provide the oxygen-rich blood to the heart. Sometimes due to formation of plaques of different sizes as a result of deposition of fatty matter, calcium, protein, and inflammatory cells within the arteries, the coronary arteries become narrow and blood cannot flow normally. When such plaques restrict the flow of blood within the artery the heart muscles cannot get the required oxygen through the blood, if the blood flow is not restored quickly the section of the heart muscles begins to die in want of oxygen. (Heart Attacks and Heart Disease, n.d.).
The term myocardial infarction (MI) infraction means damaged heart muscles. A heart attack (myocardial infarction) is usually caused by a blood clot that forms inside a coronary artery one of its branches, and connecting parts of the heart muscles with this artery looses the blood (and oxygen) supply. When a part of the heart muscle is damaged it is infracted. If the main coronary artery is blocked, it affects large part of the heart muscle and if a smaller branch artery is blocked, it affects smaller part of heart muscle. A common symptom of myocardial infarction is severe chest pain, which is often felt like heavy pressure on the chest. The MI pains lasts more than 15 minutes to several hours. Along with feeling short of breath the patients also feel sick, getting faint. MI is very common with increasing age, however the younger people are also at risk of the disease. Smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, high cholesterol, diabetes are some risk factors for myocardial infarction. (Willacy, H. ,2012)
A heartbeat is a series of complex events and in such a cycle the chambers of the heart relax and contract to pump blood. A single heartbeat is a combination of two basic parts: diastole and systole. In a diastole the atria and ventricles of the heart relax and fill with blood. At the end of diastole the atria contract and pump blood into the ventricles. The atria then relax and heart`s ventricles then contract to pump blood out of the heart. (Heart Contraction and Blood Flow., 2011)
When a patient comes to the hospital with a chest pain, we take the electrocardiogram (EKG) test, and record the waves made by the heart to assess the possibility of a heart problem behind the chest pain. We attach the patches of electrodes to the skin of patient`s chest, arm and legs to record the electrical activity of the heart in an electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG). The combination of waves in EKG graph corresponds to the contraction and relaxation of different parts of heart. We monitor the wave peaks to check the heart rhythm, in which the P wave represents the contraction of atria, the series of waves QRS represent the ventricular contraction, T and U waves follow the ventricular contractions. The P-Q or P-R interval represents the time taken for an electrical impulse to travel from the atria to the ventricles. I would monitor the wave patterns to diagnose the heart disease. The interesting condition in the EKG would be a typical change, and ST elevation in the pattern of heart tracing. Elevated ST segments suggest that an artery to the heart is blocked and full thickness of the heart-muscle is damaged. (Heart Attack. , 2015) I know from these findings are referred to as a Q-wave myocardial infarction or a STEMI (ST segment elevation myocardial infarction). (Deshpande, A., & Birnbaum, Y., 2014) After I perform serial ECGs in every 15 to 30 minutes on the patient, I would recommend the case with suspected acute STEMI.

Reference:

Deshpande, A., & Birnbaum, Y. (2014, October 26). ST-segment elevation: Distinguishing ST elevation myocardial infarction from ST elevation secondary to nonischemic etiologies. Retrieved February 21, 2015, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4209433/.
Heart Attacks and Heart Disease. (n.d.). Retrieved February 21, 2015, from http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/guide/heart-disease-heart-attacks.
Heart Attack. (2015, February 21). Retrieved February 21, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/heart-attack/diagnosis.html
Willacy, H. (2012, May 16). Myocardial Infarction (Heart Attack). Retrieved February 21, 2015, from http://www.patient.co.uk/health/myocardial-infarction-heart-attack.
Heart Contraction and Blood Flow. (2011, November 17). Retrieved February 21, 2015, from http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/hhw/contraction.