a graphic method of investigating the cardiovascular system using an X-ray machine and an electrokymograph (seeKYMOGRAPH). The procedure was introduced by the German physician K. Heckmann in 1936.

In electrokymography, X-rays passing through a part of the body and a slit in a special chamber strike the screen of a photoelectric cell. The electric current arising in the circuit of the photoelectric cell is transmitted to an electronic amplifier. If the rays passing through the pulsating contours of the heart or blood vessel strike the photoelectric cell, the resulting current changes in conformity with the pulsation of the particular organ. Changes in the current are recorded graphically in the form of a curve, or an electrokymogram. If the photoelectric cell is situated directly behind the pulsating organ, the electrokymogram reflects the difference in blood entering the organ during systole and diastole.

Deviations of the shape of the electrokymogram from that characteristic of the various divisions of the heart and major blood vessels and changes in the duration of certain segments of the curve may have diagnostic significance. Electrokymography is used mainly to diagnose aneurysms and some valvular diseases of the heart and blood vessels. It is also used in clinical pharmacology and physiology.