ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHIC DIAGNOSIS OF LEFT-VENTRICULAR HYPERTROPHY IN THEPRESENCE OF RIGHT BUNDLE-BRANCH BLOCK IN CASES WITH ESSENTIAL-HYPERTENSION

Right bundle branch block was diagnosed in electrocardiograms of 37 of 1085 patients with essential hypertension. Echocardiographically left ventricular hypertrophy was diagnosed in 14 of these 37 patients. Eig hteen electrocardiographic (ECG) criteria, which were previously recom mended, were determined in these 37 patients. The sensitivities of fiv e criteria were found to be better than 50%. These are SV1 greater-tha n-or-equal-to 2 mm; RV6 > RV5; S III + (R + S) maximum precordial lead greater-than-or-equal-to 30 mm; P/PR greater-than-or-equal-to 1.6; R aVL greater-than-or-equal-to 11 mm. However, their specificities range d from 56.5% to 95.6%. When the combination of RV6 > RV5 and S III + ( R + S) maximum precordial lead greater-than-or-equal-to 30 mm was used , sensitivity was 57.1 and specificity was 100%. It is concluded that the presence of right bundle branch block these ECG criteria can be us ed for the diagnosis of left ventricular hypertrophy.