G. Gustafsson et al., DYNAMIC VECTORCARDIOGRAPHY FOR EARLY DIAGNOSIS OF ACUTE MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION COMPARED WITH 12-LEAD ELECTROCARDIOGRAM, Coronary artery disease, 7(12), 1996, pp. 871-876
Background The aim of the study was to assess the diagnostic accuracy
of multilead continuous vectorcardiography (VCG) for early diagnosis o
f acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in patients admitted to hospital b
ecause of suspicion of AMI. VCG was compared with resting 12-lead elec
trocardiogram (EGG) on admission. Methods In a multicentre study, 107
patients with chest pain (less than or equal to 12 h) were included, T
he diagnosis of AMI was on the basis of World Health Organization crit
eria. Continuous VCG was recorded for 12-24 h and the data were evalua
ted blindly at 2 and 6 h of recording and after the completion of reco
rding (12-24 h). Results AMI was diagnosed in 74 patients, The VCG rec
ording had a diagnostic accuracy of 71% after 2 h and 86% after both t
he 6 h and the completed VCG recording. Compared with ECG on admission
, the VCG recording after 6 h showed a significantly greater sensitivi
ty: 86% compared with 62% (P < 0.01). In patients with non-diagnostic
ECG on arrival (n = 55), VCG after 6 h had a diagnostic accuracy of 85
%, a sensitivity of 82% and a specificity of 89%. Conclusions VCG migh
t be useful for early diagnosis of AMI, especially in patients with no
n-diagnostic EGG.