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Electrocardiogram - What To Think About
About this test
- Sometimes your EKG may look normal even when you have heart disease. For this reason, the EKG should always be interpreted along with your symptoms, past health, physical examination, and, if necessary, other test results.
- An electrocardiogram cannot predict whether you will have a heart attack.
- At first, an EKG done during a heart attack may look normal or unchanged from a previous EKG. So the EKG may be repeated over several hours and days (called serial EKGs) to look for changes.
- There are several other types of electrocardiograms, including telemetry, ambulatory monitoring (using a Holter monitor or event monitor), and exercise EKG testing. For more information, see the topics Ambulatory Electrocardiogram and Exercise Electrocardiogram.
- Sometimes EKG
abnormalities can be seen only during exercise or while symptoms are present.
To check for these changes in the heartbeat, an ambulatory EKG or stress EKG
may be done.
- An ambulatory EKG is a type of portable, continuous EKG monitor. For more information, see the topic Ambulatory Electrocardiogram.
- A stress EKG is a type of EKG done during exercise. A resting EKG is always done before an exercise EKG test, and results of the resting EKG are compared to the results of the exercise EKG. A resting EKG may also show a heart problem that would make an exercise EKG unsafe. For more information, see the topic Exercise Electrocardiogram.
- Some doctors think that people older than age 35 need a baseline EKG before problems develop. This baseline EKG may be compared to later EKGs to see if changes have occurred. But a baseline EKG is expensive and may not be covered by insurance. Baseline EKGs may be most useful in people who have other conditions or diseases that increase their chances of having heart disease.
- Sometimes doctors automatically schedule routine tests because they think that's what patients expect. But experts say routine heart tests can be a waste of time and money. For more information, see Heart Tests: When Do You Need Them?
| By: | Healthwise Staff | Last Revised: March 18, 2010 |
| Medical Review: | E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine Stephen Fort, MD, MRCP, FRCPC - Interventional Cardiology | |
© 1995-2011 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated. This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.
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