The ECG axis is the direction of the heart’s electrical activity, measured by electrode receptors placed in pairs known as leads. A healthy heart’s axis points towards the left ventricle. Deviations to the left can indicate abnormal heart rhythms, while deviations to the right can indicate lung disease or heart defects. An ECG cannot measure the heart’s pumping ability.
The electrocardiograph (ECG) axis is the direction in which all of the electrical activity of the heart is focused. Electrode receptors placed in pairs known as leads at specific vector locations on the body, can map the electrical activity of the heart through the ECG machine. This heart test is known as an electrocardiogram. The EKG will reveal measurements of your overall heart rhythms and any weakness of your heart muscles. Once you figure out the direction, you can determine how much of a focus might be.
There are usually 12 leads when an EKG is recorded, six placed at the limb joints and six placed in the chest areas. Imagining a line drawn between pairs of conductors one can see the conductor vectors in a circumferential ray diagram of zero degrees, 60 degrees, 120 degrees and so on, around an elliptical circle. Each of these lead pairs looks at the heart from a different angle and detects electrical activity. It is possible to detect electrolyte imbalances causing abnormal rhythms, known as a myocardial infarction (MI), and locate the affected areas of the heart muscle. The pumping ability of the heart, however, cannot be measured on an ECG; therefore it is possible to have a good ECG even in cardiac arrest.
In the scenario of a healthy human heart, the ECG axis would point towards the largest muscle in the heart, which is normally the left ventricle, also known as the left chamber. This muscle mass in the left chamber is normally assisted in some way by the right chamber. The left chamber is responsible for blood flow flowing in a line from the left leg to the right shoulder. If the left ventricle enlarges, it is said to be in a left ECG axis deviation if this deviation is more than 30 degrees from the normal ECG axis. A 30 to 90 degree deviation from the normal axis may signal MI or emphysema, or it may be the normal reading for a pregnant woman.
Left and right ECG axis deviations indicate different health conditions. Deviations to the left, as mentioned above, can be abnormal heart rhythms in the left chamber. Some causes of a right ECG axis deviation are chronic lung disease, a lung clot, or right chamber enlargement when the right ventricle muscle has thickened. Another cause of such a deviation to the right is called atrial septal defect, when the upper walls of the heart do not close completely, in a congenital heart defect.
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