EKG ?'S

What does ' BORDERLINE VOLTAGE' mean on an EKG?

Hey Trixsie,

Let me start by saying I am not an expert in any way. However, I have an EKG I got from a company called Contec Medical in China and on mine, if the voltage from the electrodes is not present or really low (perhaps because the electrodes are poorly placed or insufficient EKG gel is being used) I get an DROP message which according to the manual means just what you asked about, low voltage. Mine has three sensitivity levels, 5mv/mm, 10mv/mm and 20 mv/mm. I can adjust until the waveform is big enough to view.

Hope this helped, and remember, I am not a professional, just really curious about my body and a bit of a geek.

Ted

Usually that is not a sign of a problem as Ted01 has described. It's usually a part of a diagnostic comment from the EKG machine and provides additional info like "Borderline voltage for LVH" (Left Ventricular Hypertrophy).

So, "borderline voltage" on its own doesn't mean a lot b ut with the additional info it does. This is the kind of message that the common EKG machines churn out based on the the signals from the EKG leads. The trouble is that they are just things to point doctors and technicians in the appropriate direction. They are NOT a diagnosis. Just a comment.

For example, it would be like me listening to your car without actually opening it up and saying "It sounds like your fan belt's worn. I have no way of saying for sure ... I'm just going on the little info I have. With an EKG machine, it has a number of preprogrammed tools to make suggestions, but nothing replaces analysis by a doctor competent in reading an EKG.

My first reaction assuming that it's "Borderline Voltage for LVH" would be that you will be going for further workup to determine if you do indeed have LVH for example. If it's borderline voltage for something else, again, there will be a workup to determine the significance of the diagnostic comment.

Time and time again, people get a little info from a test and try to interpret it when it's just a result that says "This needs to be looked at further". The body's a complex system, and sometimes that's just how it goes.