Cardiology Teaching Package
A Beginners Guide to Normal Heart Function, Sinus Rhythm & Common Cardiac Arrhythmias
The S Wave
You will also have seen a small negative wave following the large R wave. This is known as an S wave and represents depolarisation in the Purkinje fibres.
The S wave travels in the opposite direction to the large R wave because, as can be seen on the earlier picture, the Purkinje fibres spread throughout the ventricles from top to bottom and then back up through the walls of the ventricles.
Image: The S Wave
So now it is possible to break down the QRS complex into 3 distinct waves:
- Q wave representing septal depolarisation
- R wave representing ventricular depolarisation
- S wave representing depolarisation of the Purkinje fibres.
