Electrocardiography

Weill Cornell Medicine's state-of-the-art Coleman Center for Electrocardiography performs and provides professional interpretation of a range of inpatient and outpatient electrocardiographic procedures, including routine 12-lead electrocardiograms (ECGs), ambulatory and event monitor recordings, exercise ECGs, and signal-averaged ECGs.

The Coleman Center for Electrocardiography is one of the busiest in the nation performing over 160,000 ECG interpretations a year. This includes over 1,000 exercise stress tests, and more than 1,000 ambulatory monitors.

Our team is led by academic cardiologists with extensive clinical and research experience in electrocardiography and includes cardiology fellows-in-training, all of which rotate through our graphics and ECG lab as art of their training, and highly-experienced technicians. Our center provides a uniquely high-level of clinical service to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medicine and the surrounding community.

What is Electrocardiography?

Electrocardiography is considered the first diagnostic tools for evaluation of anatomic changes and arrhythmias within the heart. These noninvasive tests use an electrocardiogram (ECG) to assess the electrical activity produced by the heart. In addition to the resting 12-lead ECG, the electrical activity of the heart can be examined over 24 hours, by using portable ambulatory recorders and event recorders can be used over even longer time periods to detect infrequent rhythm irregularities. The ECG can also be examined during exercise testing.

Types of electrocardiographic procedures:

An electrocardiogram (ECG) is a diagnostic test that is used to detect abnormalities in the heart's rhythm, as well as to provide important information about damage to the electrical system of the heart, heart attacks, structural abnormalities in the heart's walls, and more. Our center provides the full range of advanced electrocardiography services, including:

• Resting ECG: This test monitors the heart's activity at rest and provides information about the heart’s rhythm, acute and prior heart attacks, and abnormalities of the structure and electrical system of the heart. 

• Stress Test (Exercise ECG): This test monitors the heart's activity under conditions of physical exercise. It is used for the evaluation of exercise capacity, for the detection of coronary disease and the assessment of its severity, for prediction of cardiovascular risk, and for monitoring the response to treatment.
• Holter (Ambulatory) Monitoring: The Holter monitor is a portable electrocardiograph machine that allows readings to be made over a 24-hour period, while the individual is performing the usual activities of daily living at home or at work.  This test is useful for detection of intermittent rhythm abnormalities of the heart, to quantify certain abnormalities and to relate patient symptoms to possible rhythm abnormalities.