Suspicious Flattening of ECK wave

[Mithranda]

  I am a 38 yr old female with multiple health problems.  3-4 months ago, I went to the emergency room due to difficulty breathing.    They performed an EKG, and first told me it was 'suspicious'.  After admission, the cardiologist showed me what he termed a 'flattening' of the wave.  They did a stress-echo test, and said this flattening was now normal, as would be the intemittant angina I was experiencing.  I am confused.  Does the heart 'wave' degredate naturally with age?  Why is this change considered to be normal?

[Cleveland Clinic, MD]

Dear  Mithranda,
Thank you for your question.  The electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) is a tracing of the electrical activity of the heart.  The majority of development in the area of ECG’s came in the early 1900’s and was pioneered by Einthoven and others.  What he discovered was that various changes in the heart muscle showed up in changes on the ECG.  The ECG is the diagnostic test that doctors use to test for ischemia (lack of blood flow to the heart) and rhythm disturbances.  The standard ECG has 12 different leads "looking" at the heart from different angles.  Each lead has a P wave a QRS segment and a T wave.  Changes in any of these components indicate different changes in the heart.  Although you do not say it I suspect that what you had was "flattening of the T waves".  This is a very non-specific finding that could be due to a variety of different things and is not a bad finding.  It does not sound like they saw anything serious on your ECG.  You are in a low risk category for having heart disease and it is not likely that the heart was the cause of your symptoms.  You should follow-up with your regular doctor to have these symptoms further evaluated.
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