Table of Contents
- Overview
- Results
- Risks
- Prevention
- Images
Intracardiac electrophysiology study (EPS) is an invasive test that allows doctors to determine the details of abnormal heartbeats, or
See also:
Alternative Names
Electrophysiology study - intracardiac; EPS - intracardiac
How the test is performed
The study involves placing wire electrodes in the heart to measure electrical activity along the heart's conduction system and in heart muscle cells themselves.
The procedure is done in a hospital laboratory by a trained staff that includes cardiologists, technicians, and nurses. The environment is safe and controlled to minimize any danger or risk to the patient.
A health care provider will clean your groin area and apply a numbing medication (anesthetic). The cardiologist will then place several IVs into the groin area. Once these IVs are in place, tubes (catheters) can be passed through the IVs into the body.
The doctor uses moving x-ray images to carefully guide the catheter up into the heart and place the electrodes into the proper areas.
The electrodes detect the heart's electrical activity and map out any abnormal heartbeats. This helps the doctor see the type of arrhythmia you have and where the problem starts in your heart.
Abnormal electrical activity can occur anywhere along this heart's conduction system ("the heart's wiring"). Normally, the heart's electrical signals move through the the two chambers on the top of the heart (the atria), to the atrioventricular (AV) node, and then to the lower chambers of the heart (the ventricles).
Review Date: 06/01/2010
Reviewed By: Issam Mikati, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Feinberg School
of Medicine, Director, Northwestern Clinic Echocardiography Lab,
Northwestern University, Chicago, IL. Review provided by VeriMed
Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical
Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)
