Electrocardiograms (EKG or ECG) are
utilized by doctors and surgeons to measure the electrical activity of the
heart. Electrocardiography is the process of recording the electrical activity
of the heart using electrodes placed on the skin (Goldberger, Goldberger &
Shvilkin, 2017). Our hearts are polarized when at rest due to excess of sodium
ions outside the membrane, which correlates to a resting potential of about 90
mV. Muscle stimulation tends to enhance the permeability of the membranes to
the sodium ions. The entry of the sodium ions to the membrane affects the
electrical field around the muscular cells thereby causing an action potential
and muscle contraction (D’Souza et al., 2014). The ions such as potassium,
calcium, and chlorine are also involved in the process and the electrodes
placed on the skin surface record a sum of the action potentials. The signal
generated is graphed in the form of an electrocardiogram (EKG) to show cardiac
electric potential. There can be various deflections in the EKG waveforms
corresponding to the contraction of various areas of the heart (Muhrbeck,
Persson & Hofman-Bang, 2018). Each of the cycles made is represented by a P
wave, a GRS complex, and a T wave. P wave is the analogy for the depolarization
of the atria, and the QRS complex represents the depolarization of the
ventricles. T wave correspond the re-polarization of the ventricles as shown in
the figure below.
The purpose of the lab is to find out the changes in
heart rate between resting and after physical activity through the measurement
of the QRS interval, P-R interval, and Q-T interval (electrical activities) and
the average resting maximum amplitude and heart rate. The information generated
from the lab report will be essential to future practice using
electrocardiography.
References
D’Souza, A., Bucchi, A., Johnsen, A.
B., Logantha, S. J. R., Monfredi, O., Yanni, J., ... & Dobryznski, H.
(2014). Exercise training reduces resting heart rate via downregulation of the
funny channel HCN4: Nature communications, 5, 3775
Goldberger, A. L., Goldberger, Z.
D., & Shvilkin, A. (2017). Clinical Electrocardiography: A Simplified
Approach E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences
Muhrbeck, J., Persson, J., &
Hofman-Bang, C. (2018). Catheterization laboratory activations and time
intervals for patients with pre-hospital ECGs: Scandinavian Cardiovascular
Journal, 1-6.
Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in legitimate custom writing services Texas. If you need a similar paper you can place your order from research paper writing service Florida services.
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