The key difference between EKG and echocardiogram is that the EKG (Electrocardiogram) measures the electrical activity in the heart while echocardiogram uses ultrasound to take a picture to show the internal structure of the heart and the blood flow through it.
Electrocardiogram (EKG) and echocardiogram (echo) are two very important tests used to determine the overall health of your heart. These tests can identify the problems in heart valves, muscles and heart rhythm. Both tests are non-invasive tests that involve minimal discomfort. EKG and Echocardiogram look at the electrical system of your heart and the mechanical system of your heart respectively.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is EKG
3. What is Echocardiogram
4. Similarities Between EKG and Echocardiogram
5. Side by Side Comparison – EKG vs Echocardiogram in Tabular Form
6. Summary
What is EKG?
EKG or electrocardiogram is a simple and common test that employs to determine the rhythm and electrical problems of the heart. It is a non-invasive test. The electrical activity of the heart in the form of waves comes into a specialized paper. These lines or waves will explain the details regarding the patients’ heartbeat, regularity of rhythm, problems with the cardiac tissue and thickness of the heart muscle wall, etc. If the patient is normal, it will show the heart beating steadily at the proper rate. During this test, medical professionals attach electrodes to the patients’ chest and several other places. Patients should stay still and breathe normally during the test. Then the EKG results will be feed into a machine via wires. It is a quick test that takes only a few minutes.
Figure 01: Electrocardiogram or EKG
Doctors will order patients to undergo an EKG when they show symptoms of heart diseases. Furthermore, they will ask to perform an EKG for the patients who are undergoing chemotherapy in order to find out some of the drugs that can cause for heart problems.
What is Echocardiogram?
An echocardiogram is another quick test performs to determine the health of the heart. It mainly checks the mechanical system of the heart. During the echo, medical professionals will apply a cool gel on the patients’ chest and wave a transducer that releases sound waves. These sounds will echo back and produce a picture of the heart. The produced picture will show the internal structure of the heart as well as how well blood flows through it.
Figure 02: Echocardiogram
Doctors will order cancer patients to undergo echo test before, during, or after the treatments. Furthermore, to check tumours, infections, blood clots within heart vessels, deficiency in the blood pumping by the heart, past heart attack records and other heart diseases, defects in the heart valves, doctors will use echo tests. If the results of EKG show abnormal conditions, doctors may also order an echo test to obtain a detailed description about the health of the heart.
What are the Similarities Between EKG and Echocardiogram?
- EKG and echocardiogram are two tests perform to find out the health of our heart.
- Both tests are able to identify the problems in heart valves, muscles, and rhythm.
- They are very important tests.
- Both tests are non-invasive tests.
- They are very quick tests.
- Both tests require the patient to lie still during the test.
What is the Difference Between EKG and Echocardiogram?
EKG and echocardiogram are very important heart tests. EKG determines the electrical activity of the heart while echocardiogram determines the internal structure and how well blood flows through it. Similarly, EKG produces a wave-like diagram whereas Echocardiogram produces a picture of the heart.
The below infographic presents more details on the difference between EKG and echocardiogram in tabular form.
Summary – EKG vs Echocardiogram
EKG and echocardiogram are two test that is employing to check the functioning of the heart and related diseases. Both tests are quick and non-invasive. EKG determines the electrical activity of the heart while echocardiogram produces a clear picture of the heart to show the internal structure and how blood flows. This is the difference between EKG and echocardiogram.
Reference:
1.“ECHOCARDIOGRAM vs EKG: What’s The Difference Anyway?” Discover Echo, 8 Mar. 2018. Available here
Image Courtesy:
1.”2858693″ by GDJ (CC0) via pixabay
2.”Echocardiogram” By BruceBlaus – Own work, (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia