Impedance cardiography
Okay kiddo, have you ever seen a doctor who needs to check your heartbeat? Sometimes they use a stethoscope to listen to your heart, right? But there's also a special way that they can check your heartbeat using a machine called an impedance cardiogram.
Basically, our heart beats by pumping blood around our body. Impedance cardiography works by measuring how easily an electric current can pass through the body. This is because the blood in our bodies is a good conductor of electricity, but things like muscles and bones aren't as good at conducting electricity.
So, a machine called an impedance cardiograph is used to send a safe, low-level electric current through the body of the person being tested. The current passes through the chest and abdomen, and a sensor on the other side of the body measures how easily the current passes through.
When the heart pumps blood, the amount of blood in the chest area increases. This means that the current can't pass through the chest quite as easily. By measuring this change in resistance, the impedance cardiograph can work out when the heart is beating and how much blood it's pumping with each beat.
This information is really useful for doctors because it helps them to understand if there are any problems with how the heart is working. For example, they can tell if the heart is struggling to pump enough blood around the body, or if there's an irregular heartbeat that needs treatment.
Overall, impedance cardiography is a safe and painless way for doctors to check how well our hearts are working, and it helps them to make sure that we stay healthy!
Basically, our heart beats by pumping blood around our body. Impedance cardiography works by measuring how easily an electric current can pass through the body. This is because the blood in our bodies is a good conductor of electricity, but things like muscles and bones aren't as good at conducting electricity.
So, a machine called an impedance cardiograph is used to send a safe, low-level electric current through the body of the person being tested. The current passes through the chest and abdomen, and a sensor on the other side of the body measures how easily the current passes through.
When the heart pumps blood, the amount of blood in the chest area increases. This means that the current can't pass through the chest quite as easily. By measuring this change in resistance, the impedance cardiograph can work out when the heart is beating and how much blood it's pumping with each beat.
This information is really useful for doctors because it helps them to understand if there are any problems with how the heart is working. For example, they can tell if the heart is struggling to pump enough blood around the body, or if there's an irregular heartbeat that needs treatment.
Overall, impedance cardiography is a safe and painless way for doctors to check how well our hearts are working, and it helps them to make sure that we stay healthy!