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This EKG was performed in the emergency room. It is a quick, painless test that provides valuable information about the heart’s electrical activity. Select your location below to find the urgent care center nearest you.One test often used to help diagnose a heart attack is an electrocardiogram. You might hear this test called an ECG or an EKG. We offer an easy check-in process and short wait times. If you have a minor injury or illness, don’t put off getting the care you need.
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or call 9-1-1.Īt GoHealth Urgent Care, we offer EKGs at all our locations to help you be as heart healthy as possible! We’re open seven days a week to care for you. If you’re having significant symptoms, including chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, or pain in your arm or jaw, go immediately to the closest E.R. These are referred to as “silent” heart attacks, which often show up weeks or months later as characteristic abnormalities on an EKG that alert your medical provider that you have a potentially dangerous blockage in your coronary arteries that has led to ischemia in the past and will likely lead to an even worse event in the future if left untreated. While heart attacks often cause significant symptoms that prompt patients to seek immediate medical attention, in 45% of cases, symptoms are so mild that patients don’t realize there’s anything wrong with their heart. An EKG can tell you if you’ve had a heart attack in the past. Often cardiomegaly shows up on an EKG as abnormally large waveforms, which can alert your medical provider to a serious underlying conditionĤ. However, there are some medical conditions that can cause cardiomegaly (an abnormally enlarged heart.) Causes include untreated high blood pressure, viral infections of the cardiac muscle, advanced age and heart failure. An EKG can reveal if your heart is enlarged.Ī healthy heart is about the size of your fist, located just left of center in your chest. An EKG is a useful tool that helps medical providers evaluate how much oxygen your heart is getting and intervene immediately if your heart is ischemic to prevent catastrophic complications.ģ. If your heart experiences prolonged ischemia, the muscle can actually start to die, leading to heart failure and even death. However, due to blockages or constrictions in the coronary blood vessels, the heart can experience ischemia, a dangerous state in which the cardiac tissue is underperfused. Your heart is a hard-working muscle that requires plenty of oxygen in order to stay strong and function properly. An EKG can reveal if your heart is getting enough oxygen. Since an EKG is measuring the electrical activity of your heart, it quickly picks up these arrhythmias.Ģ.
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However, when there is dysfunction in the electric signals sent from one part of your heart to another, the heart beats abnormally, which produces an arrhythmia. An EKG can reveal an arrhythmia (an abnormal heart rhythm).Ī healthy heart should be pumping in a steady rhythm. So, what exactly can an EKG tell you about your heart’s health?ġ. The test, which takes approximately ten minutes to perform, involves a technician attaching twelve leads to your chest and then getting a 12-line printout that reflects your heart’s activity during a 10-second window. An electrocardiogram (also referred to as an ECG or EKG) is a test that analyzes the electrical activity of your heart.
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