FAAjon

A couple of years ago I had an ECG.. all fine, however I have a heart murmur. So off i went to have an echo, again no problems. However a few weeks ago I had another ECG and compared to the last one it had changed. Im 19, very fit and heathly so its quite worrying to say the least.

The ECG i had a few weeks ago took about 5 'trys' to get started and i was very adjitated. Im just hoping it was a dud ECG reading and trace from this last ECG , if not my hopes and dreams are dashed.

Anyone have any thoughts?

gingernut

Sorry mate, not my area of expertise, but I suspect that it's very unlikely that your ecg change is related to your murmur, considering you are young, and (I assume) fit, and, your echo was normal 5 years ago.

(God/Darwin seperated the plumbin' from the electrics a long time ago).

Sounds like an artefact and a thorough doc.

Keep us informed:-)

FAAjon

I'm hoping so. Just a bit of a shock that I went through the very same just 2 years ago. But this time its for a place on IOT so I can see why they want to be doubley sure.

EDIT: saying this, they never said it was an abnormal trace.

air pig

Did they tell what the changes were in between the two ECGs and why did you have the original, was it for a licence.

Air pig.

FAAjon

They didnt say anything was wrong with the trace at OASC, as it was nearly 3 weeks later when they saw a trace from 2 years ago,( i had a VGS medical) and said it looks slightly different. But said nothing that it was abnormal.

The ECG traces take a week to be looked at, but it was only after the 2 year old trace they contacted me about it. hmm

FAAjon

Saw the Dr the other day after my echo a few weeks back. The query was enlargement of heart muscle. How ever all was found to be normal, and the cuase put down to an increase in cardiovascular fitness over the two years.

Bob the Doc

You can get changes in ECGs with different positioning of the leads. Especially the six that go on the chest. The book gives very specific instructions on where the leads should go but a lot of people just shove them on in a smiley face around the left boob with the result that the traces can look slightly different. For those of you who are interested, the correct placement is:

V1 Right 4th intercostal space (2 ribs down from the 'bend' at the top of the breast bone), just to the side of the breast bone
V2 Left 4th intercostal space (basically identical position on the left side to V1)
V3 directly between V2 and V4
V4 Left 5th intercostal space on a line drawn vertically down from the middle of the collar bone (should end up near the nipple unless you have moobs)
V5 halfway between V4 and V6
V6 5th intercostal space on a line drawn vertically down from the middle of the armpit

V6 often ends up too far to the front of the chest and V1 and 2 often end up too high. This causes the ECG to look different when in fact it is not.

Hope that helps

PS If the RAF let you off with a murmur (after an echocardiogram) then they must be happy as they get very twitched about murmurs!