ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHY (ECG)

 

This technique is very important in veterinary medicine.

 

The information it can supply us as concerns heart rate, heart beat, displaced position, enlarged heart chambers, and irregular heart beats is of inestimable value in veterinary cardiology.

 

Needless to say it is important to remember that an ECG should never be considered in and of itself as sufficient for a total diagnosis but rather as a complementary tool in the whole diagnostic procedure of any clinical case.

 

Suffice to remember that ECGs provide information of the hearts electrical activity but not its mechanical activity. For example, an animal which presents an abnormal heart beat on paper may show no clinical signs. In these cases other tests are required to determine the pathology.