How to read a 6 lead EKG (Kardia 6L)

I have a Kardia 6L, but how do I read the results?

It has these leads defined....

• I
• II
• III
• aVR
• aVL
• aVF

What do each of these leads mean and indicate? Can they help determine the type or source of the afib? Can it help cardiologists determine treatment options? Or is it just "yup, you got afib... meds, cardioversion or ablation" basically?

Yeah, all those leads do mean important things to someone who's been trained to interpret them. They're not just fluff. But what they mean is a whole class in ECG interpretation. It's probably taught at your local community college if you really want to learn.

This is why I'm a bit skeptical of the Kardia 6L. Although I think it will provide useful information to doctors and techs you send the recordings to, I don't think the extra leads will tell the average person anything more than the original Kardia did with a single lead.

If I understand correctly, it works with a third electrode one should apply in LL position? So, what about the artifacts recorded while holding the device between two thumbs and a leg? Can one trust the recording (in a better way than a single lead one)?

I don’t get artifact. I sit and relax my legs - uncrossed, wet my thumbs and area above the knee and place the 6L. Sitting relaxed intended muscles my legs acts like a table and I avoid artifact. Without moisture to your skin you could get artifact or a warning that the Kardia is not contacted to skin. I know it’s gross but I use spit on a thumb, transfer to my other thumb and smear on my skin above my knee.

In 2004 I had a different ecg machine that required alcohol and salt. I believe there maybe sodium in spit. In public I use baby wipes that I precuts into four. Wearing pants I use my ankles-one foot over the other knee and relax my legs.

Typo “intended” came from nowhere. Relaxed muscles. iPhone typo

Artifacts may be filtered by the software too.

I used my Kardia on my husband. I don't know how to read an EKG, but his was really wacky and said "unclassified." Turns out his fingers were really, really dry. We tried again after he put a little lotion on and it read normal.

There are 3 terminals, and a “lead” is defined at the difference between two terminals. So you get 6.

A - B
B - A
A - C
C - A
B - C
C - B

It all amounts to looking at the heart’s electrical activity - as expressed on the surface of one’s skin - from different angles. That’s not super important for an AF diagnosis. You can see the “irregular irregularity” in just a single lead. Multiple leads are required to establish something called the cardiac axis, which is how your heart is positioned in your chest. Some hearts point almost straight down, most lie a little bit towards one’s left, and in super rare and exotic cases one could even be reversed (please don’t worry about that. It’s a pink zebra). Even more angles (12-lead) help with diagnosing heart attacks and where muscle damage has happened. Again, all of this not really relevant to AF. You can diagnose AF by just feeling your radial pulse. You don’t even need an EKG, but it’s kind of cool that we can buy them now.

Quote

You don’t even need an EKG, but it’s kind of cool that we can buy them now.

Well, it's useful when events have the habit to stop before one has the time to have them recorded with a professional 12-lead machine.
Cardiologists only believe what they see.

About your A-B-C explanation, I don't think you get 3 more leads this way. Three of your leads are just the reverse polarity of the three others.

If I'm correct, you get -RA+LA, -RA+LL, -LA+LL as basic readings. The three others take the combination of two electrodes as the -pole and the third one as +pole.

wolfpack - THANK YOU for the explaination! That's the type of info I was seeking.

I was thinking aVR meant somthing like atrial ventricle right, or something, etc.... I'm probably wrong. What do those abbreviations mean in my original post?

Quote
cirenepurzalot
wolfpack - THANK YOU for the explaination! That's the type of info I was seeking.

I was thinking aVR meant somthing like atrial ventricle right, or something, etc.... I'm probably wrong. What do those abbreviations mean in my original post?

aVR, aVL, aVF are the "augmented" leads (hence the "a"). Augmented vector right, augmented vector left, augmented vector foot. They are calculated values using the 3 other leads (I,II,III). All put together they show "where" your heart is electrically when looking at you from the front side.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrocardiography#/media/File:Limb_leads_of_EKG.png

Pompon is right, I oversimplified a bit. You get the 6 leads from 3 terminals by 3 direct measurements and 3 indirect.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2020 11:31AM by wolfpack.