In: Anatomy and Physiology
On an ECG printout, explain the three parts of the cardiac cycle and what each represents in terms of heart action.
What is the benefit of looking at a 12-lead vs. a 4 or 6 lead ECG?
Answer a) ECG stands for Electrocardiogram, it is a test to measure the electrical activity of the heartbeat. With every beat, the genertaed electrical stimuli (or “wave”) travels through the heart to cause muscle to pump blood from the heart.
The three part of cardiac cycle is shown below:

Three part of cardiac cycle
1. P wave: Atrial depolarization(or depolarization of atria) is represented by P wave.
2. QRS complex: Ventricule depolarization is represented by QRS complex.
3. T wave: Ventricle repolarization is represented by T wave.
Answer b) In few cases it is not possible to get a comprehensive picture of heart's activity by using 4 or 6 lead ECG. In that case we add six more leads to get a total of 12 leads which gives more comprehensive picture of the heart’s behavior.The newly added six leads which is also called as precordial leads (chest leads) are arranged in a horizontal plane across the chest which records anterior and posterior electrical flows .