IS THE TIME-DOMAIN SIGNAL-AVERAGED ELECTROCARDIOGRAM HELPFUL IN PATIENTS WITH VENTRICULAR-TACHYCARDIA WITHOUT APPARENT STRUCTURAL HEART-DISEASE

The signal-averaged electrocardiogram (SAECG) has been a screening met hod for identifying patients at risk for ventricular tachycardia (VT) in the setting of coronary artery disease (CAD). Its significance in p atients with VT unrelated to CAD or left ventricular dysfunction is un determined. In order to define the value of SAECG in this patient popu lation further, we compared the time domain SAECG at 25, 40, and 80 Hz filters in 35 patients with clinically symptomatic VT in the absence of structural heart disease was compared with 10 normal controls and 1 0 patients with CAD and inducible VT. SAECG data in patients without s tructural heart disease were intermediate between normal controls and patients with CAD. No single or combined SAECG criterion helped to dif ferentiate between patients with inducible and noninducible VT. There was no concordance to other arrhythmia testing. It was concluded that signal-averaged electrocardiography may have little screening value in VT unrelated to CAD or left ventricular dysfunction.