Question

Who devised ECG, a device which helps diagnose heart’s ailments?
A) Joseph Erlanger
B) Herbert Spencer Gasser
C) Niels Ryberg Finsen
D) Willem Einthoven

Answer 1

ECG stands for electrocardiogram. It records the electrical activities of the heart. Nowadays, ECG is an essential element of the cardiac assessment of all patients. It was first discovered in London. ECG can easily record the electrical activities of the heart because the skin is a good conductor of electricity.

Complete answer:
The ECG device was devised by Willem Einthoven from Leiden, the Netherlands. He is the founder of the
ECG. He is known as the father of modern ECG. In May 1877, the use of ECG was first demonstrated by Augustus Waller at St. Mary’s Hospital, London. He used a capillary electrometer for the demonstration. A capillary electrometer consists of a glass tube that contains Mercury. One of the ends of the tube is drawn into a fine capillary while the other end is dipped into sulfuric acid. Willem Einthoven further improved the capillary electrometer by introducing a string galvanometer. Before the end of the twentieth century, he was able to get a proper representation of the electrical activities of the heart by improving his work.
With further progress of the concept of ECG, nowadays we use two types of electrodes:
1. Self-adhesive circular shaped pad
2. Flat paper-thin sticker.
An ECG is very helpful in detecting any type of anomaly in the heart because its activities are easily recorded on a paper in the form of waves.
Therefore, the right answer is option D.

Note: The term ECG was also coined by Willem Einthoven. An entire ECG wave consists of P, Q, R, S, and T waves. 12 leads are attached to the body for recording an ECG. The interpretation of the ECG tracing needs a significant amount of training although it is a simple test to perform