Doctors use electrocardiograms to diagnose heart conditions. What information does an EKG provide?
What will be an ideal response?
Answer: The EKG provides the heart rate of the patient. The heart rate can be calculated by computing the R-R interval (time between each heartbeat), which gives the number of seconds per heartbeat, then you take the inverse and convert to minutes. The R-R value may vary from beat to beat, so the heart rate variability (HRV) values may be indicative of diabetes, high blood pressure, and coronary heart disease.
The EKG also shows the cardiac rhythm. Abnormal rhythms include atrial fibrillation where atria contract in an uncontrolled fashion (patient not in immediate danger), ventricular fibrillation where ventricles contract in an uncontrolled way (potentially deadly because of ineffective delivery of blood to tissues), and atrioventricular blocks where abnormal signaling between atria and ventricles occurs. AV blocks differ in severity and the worse severity may be deadly if an artificial pacemaker is not installed.
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