ELECTROCARDIOGRAM

HEARTBEAT ON A TV SCREEN

INTRODUCTION
Electrocardiography is the process of
recording the electrical activity of the
heart over a period of time using
electrodes placed on a patients
body.
These electrodes detect the tiny
electrical changes on the skin that
arise from the heart muscle
depolarizing during each heartbeat.

Process Diagram

Sensing Element
The sensing element consists of electrodes which
are placed on the patients limbs and on the
surface of the chest.
In a conventional 12 lead ECG , ten electrodes are
placed on the patients limbs and on the surface
of the chest
The overall magnitude of the hearts electrical
potential is then measured from twelve different
angles (leads) and is recorded over a period of
time(usually 10 seconds)
Signal Generation
Sinus node-left atrium-atrioventricular (AV)
node-interventricular septum (IVS), via the bundle

Signal Amplification and Display

System
The signal is displayed in
waveforms.
Knowledge of reading the signal is
very important
A typical ECG tracing is a repeating
cycle of three electrical entities: a P
wave ( atrial depolarization), a QRS
complex (ventricular depolarization)
and a T wave (ventricular
repolarization ). The ECG is

Ecg signal
Signal ecg

Reasons for performing

electrocardiography
Suspectedheart attack
Suspectedpulmonary embolism
Athird heart sound,fourth heart sound, acardiac
murmuror other findings to suggest structural heart
disease
Perceivedcardiac dysrhythmias
Faintingor collapse
Seizures
Monitoring the effects of a heart medication
Assessing severity of electrolyte abnormalities, such
ashyperkalemia

ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY(EEG)

INTRODUCTION
Electroencephalography(EEG) is
anelectrophysiologicalmonitoring
method to record electrical activity of
thebrain. It is typically noninvasive,
with theelectrodesplaced along
thescalp, although invasive
electrodes are sometimes used in
specific applications. EEG measures
voltage fluctuations resulting
fromionic currentwithin

Sensor System
In conventional scalp EEG, the recording is
obtained by placingelectrodeson the scalp
with a conductive gel or paste, usually after
preparing the scalp area by lightabrasionto
reduceimpedancedue to dead skin cells.
Many systems typically use electrodes, each of
which is attached to an individual wire. Some
systems use caps or nets into which electrodes
are embedded; this is particularly common
when high-density arrays of electrodes are
needed.
The signal is generated by the neurons.
Neurons are electrically charged (or "polarized")

MODIFYING/AMPLIFICATION
Each electrode is connected to one input of
adifferential amplifier(one amplifier per pair of
electrodes); a common system reference electrode
is connected to the other input of each differential
amplifier.
Typical settings for thehigh-pass filterand alowpass filterare 0.5-1Hzand 3570Hz, respectively.
The high-pass filter typically filters out slow artifact,
such aselectrogalvanicsignals and movement
artifact, whereas the low-pass filter filters out highfrequency artifacts, such as
electromyographicsignals.

DISPLAY SYSTEM
The display is in the form of waves
Unlike ECG they have a completely different
meaning.
Interpretation is straightforward unlike ECG.
The vertical axis represents the voltage in
micro volts and the the horizontal axis
represents time in seconds.
The figure shows the image of a
resting(sleeping) brain.

MEDICAL USES
To distinguishepilepticseizuresfrom other types
of spells, such aspsychogenic non-epileptic
seizures,syncope (fainting), sub-cortical
movement disordersandmigrainevariants.
To differentiate
"organic"encephalopathyordeliriumfrom
primary psychiatric syndromes such ascatatonia
To serve as an adjunct test ofbrain death
To prognosticate, in certain instances, in patients
with coma
To determine whether to wean anti-epileptic
medications