An electrocardiogram (sometimes called ECG or EKG) allows us to measure the electrical activity in your child's heart. We perform an ECG by attaching electrodes (small patches) to your child's chest, arms and legs and connecting the electrodes to the ECG machine using lead wires. The ECG machine produces a printout, or tracing, that we examine to see if it varies from a normal tracing.

At the Cardiac Center, we may use this test to:

• Help us determine whether your child might have certain heart problems
• Monitor your child's pacemaker's function, if he's had one implanted
• Help us monitor the effectiveness of a heart medication your child is taking
• Check your child's heart after he has had a heart procedure such as cardiac catheterization, heart surgery or an electrophysiology study

We will usually take a baseline or resting ECG as part of your child's physical examination. If your child has an exercise test, we compare the exercise ECG with the baseline or resting ECG to see if any changes occur with increasing stress on your child's heart.