Main artifacts in electrocardiography.

Electrocardiographic artifacts are defined as electrocardiographic alterations, not related to cardiac electrical activity. As a result of artifacts, the components of the electrocardiogram (ECG) such as the baseline and waves can be distorted. Motion artifacts are due to shaking with rhythmic movement. Examples of motion artifacts include tremors with no evident cause, Parkinson's disease, cerebellar or intention tremor, anxiety, hyperthyroidism, multiple sclerosis, and drugs such as amphetamines, xanthines, lithium, benzodiazepines, or shivering (due to hypothermia, fever (rigor due to shaking), cardiopulmonary resuscitation by chest compression (oscillations of great amplitude) and patients who move their limbs during the test, causing sudden irregularities in the ECG baseline that may resemble premature contractions or interfere with ECG wave shapes, or other supraventricular and ventricular arrhythmias. When the skeletal muscles experience shaking, the ECG is "bombarded" by apparently random electrical activity.