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Basic ECG Theory, Recordings, and Interpretation

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Handbook of Cardiac Anatomy, Physiology, and Devices

Abstract

An electrocardiogram (ECG; in German, the electrokardiogram, EKG) is a measure of how the electrical activity of the heart changes over time as action potentials propagate throughout the heart during each cardiac cycle. However, this is not a direct measure of the cellular depolarization and repolarization with the heart, but rather the relative, cumulative magnitude of populations of cells eliciting changes in their membrane potentials at a given point in time; it shows electrical differences across the heart when depolarization and repolarization of these atrial and ventricular cells occur.

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© 2005 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ

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Dupre, A., Vincent, S., Iaizzo, P.A. (2005). Basic ECG Theory, Recordings, and Interpretation. In: Iaizzo, P.A. (eds) Handbook of Cardiac Anatomy, Physiology, and Devices. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-835-9_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-835-9_15

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-443-2

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