THE EFFECT OF GOOD ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS INTRODUCED NEAR THE HEART ON THE ELECTROCARDIOGRAM

Abstract

The introduction of good electrical conductors adjacent to the heart cause alterations in the electrical records obtained from direct, from distant, or a combination of direct and distant electrodes. Evidence is given that the conductors introduced operate by offering a by-pass for the currents generated by the heart, thereby decreasing the amount of current passing through the galvanometer circuit, by altering the path taken by the currents from the heart to distant points, by altering the relative contribution of the various regions of the heart to the recorded electrical curves, and by creating electrical stresses, the result of frictional electricity between dissimilar conductors. The relative importance of these actions depends on the manner of recording the electrical curves, the presence or absence of regions of injury in the heart, and the nature and location of the electrical conductor introduced. These observations reemphasize and define, in part at least, the importance of the electrical properties of tissues adjacent to the heart in determining the electrical field set up by it.