1. Clinical trial of a balsa-lethium electrode for conventional electrocardiography
- Author
-
R.N. Seelye, Eugene J. Fischmann, and Leonard R. Crutcher
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,business.industry ,Standard methods ,Lithium ,Lithium electrode ,Wood ,Surgery ,Electrocardiography ,Blind study ,Internal medicine ,Bombacaceae ,Cardiology ,Medicine ,Humans ,Statistical analysis ,Metal electrodes ,Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine ,business ,Skin conductance ,Electrodes ,Balsa wood ,Biomedical engineering - Abstract
An ECG skin contact consisting of balsa wood impregnated with lithium chloride, for use with multielectrode lead systems but applicable also in conventional electrocardiography, is described, and the method of manufacture is given in detail. The contact does not require wetting and can be used between metal electrode and skin to replace conventional paste, or attached to the lead wire to replace both electrode and paste. Three conventional electrocardiograms were recorded in each of 16 subjects using balsalithium alone and in 48 subjects using three different contact media (balsa, paste, jelly). Statistical analysis of a blind study of the records by four experienced readers did not suggest that electrocardiograms obtained using balsa-lithium were, from the viewpoint of clinical interpretation, inferior to those obtained with standard methods. Jelly differed from the other two media and was “odd” more often than either paste or balsa. The variation between jelly and the other two affected the clinical interpretation of records in 2 of 48 cases. Differences between balsa and paste were significantly less frequent and were without clinical significance. Skin resistance with balsa appears higher than with Sanborn paste. The consequences of this in the conventional and the multielectrode method of recording electrocardiograms are discussed.
- Published
- 1962