Phlebotomy & EKGs

Phlebotomy, or the drawing of blood, and EKGs are two of the most common diagnostic procedures used in clinics and hospitals around the world to work up and diagnose disease. Phlebotomy is usually diagnostic, but in some diseases it is also a therapeutic intervention.

What is Phlebotomy?

• Phlebotomy is the medical term for drawing blood. Taking blood samples is often the very first step in the work up of any critically or chronically ill patient. Blood is often drawn from patients in the emergency room, in private clinics or even from inpatients at large hospitals to aid in the diagnostic work up of patients. Drawing blood is useful in diagnosing a number of diseases because the blood is one of the first things affected by disease in the human body.

What is an EKG?

• An electrocardiogram (EKG) is a printable graph of the electrical activity of the heart muscle plotted over a period of time. Basic aspects of heart function such as the size of the heart and the rhythm of the beat as well as complicated pathologies can all be recognized by a physician trained in EKG interpretation. Since the heart is the basis of the cardiovascular system, heart function is a key clue for the diagnosis of the cause of a large range of cardiovascular symptoms.

How are Phlebotomy and EKG Related?

• Since phlebotomy allows the medical lab to run tests on the different constituents of blood, from the cells to the electrolytes to the proteins within a blood sample, the interpretation of a phlebotomy sample alongside an EKG reading can point a skilled clinician toward the diagnosis of a number of diseases which affect the cardiovascular system. Since the EKG measures the function of the heart which pumps blood while phlebotomy allows the clinician to interpret the qualities of the blood which is being pumped, the two taken together allow the clinician to make a well-rounded interpretation of the cardiovascular health of the patient.