The electrical impulse that is generated by each depolarization of the heart can be characterized and examined with the use of an electrocardiogram. From a clinical standpoint, the electrocardiogram has become useful as a mechanism of diagnosing cardiac disease. The circuitry of the electrocardiogram allows the detection of small changes in voltage that occur rhythmically with cardiac excitation. It was discovered in the early 20th century that these changes could be evaluated by leads (wires) that were placed on the chest, arms, and legs. Potential differences between different sets of leads are examined throughout the cardiac cycle. Ultimately, the readout of the electrocardiogram describes the electrical activation of the heart.
As a wave of depolarization passes over the atria, the impulse is recorded as the P wave. As it continues through the ventricles, it is registered as the QRS complex. Currents generated as the ventricles recover from the state of depolarization produce the T wave. This repolarization process occurs in the muscle of the ventricles about 0.25 second after depolarization. There are, therefore, both depolarization and repolarization waves represented in the electrocardiogram. The atria repolarize at the same time that the ventricles depolarize; however, the atrial repolarization wave is obscured by the larger QRS wave. The relative timing, size, and direction of these waves are all important diagnostic information in the evaluation of cardiac electrical function and heart disease.
Nervous control of the heart
Nervous control of the heart is maintained by the parasympathetic fibres in the vagus nerve (parasympathetic) and by the sympathetic nerves. The vagus nerve is the cardiac inhibitor, and the sympathetic nerves are the cardiac excitors. Stimulation of the vagus nerve depresses the rate of impulse formation and atrial contractility and thereby reduces cardiac output and slows the rate of the heart. Parasympathetic stimulation can also produce varying degrees of impaired impulse formation or heart block in diseases of the heart. (In complete heart block the atria and the ventricles beat independently.) Stimulation of the sympathetic nerves increases contractility of both atria and ventricles.
The cardiac cycle is defined as the time from the end of one heart contraction to the end of the subsequent contraction and consists of a period of relaxation called diastole followed by a period of contraction called systole. During the entire cycle, pressure is maintained in the arteries; however, this pressure varies during the two periods, the normal diastolic pressure being 60 to 80 millimetres of mercury and the normal systolic pressure being 90 to 120 millimetres of mercury.