QRS WAVES OF THE SPATIAL VELOCITY ELECTROCARDIOGRAM IN PATIENTS WITH DILATED CARDIOMYOPATHY - ITS DIAGNOSTIC CONTRIBUTIONS AND RELATION TO VENTRICULAR-TACHYCARDIA
A. Takimiya et al., QRS WAVES OF THE SPATIAL VELOCITY ELECTROCARDIOGRAM IN PATIENTS WITH DILATED CARDIOMYOPATHY - ITS DIAGNOSTIC CONTRIBUTIONS AND RELATION TO VENTRICULAR-TACHYCARDIA, American journal of noninvasive cardiology, 7(3), 1993, pp. 145-151
To evaluate the clinical utility of the spatial velocity electrocardio
graphy (SVECG)-QRS complex in the diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy
(DCM), studies were carried out on a series of 120 subjects divided in
to 5 groups. The two peaks of the SVECG-QRS complex rho1-Mag and rho2-
Mag) were significantly depressed in the DCM group, compared to all ot
her groups, that is, 30 normal subjects (p < 0.05, p < 0.01), 26 patie
nts with aortic regurgitation and mitral regurgitation (p < 0.01, p <
0.01), 18 patients with diffuse hypertrophy (p < 0.01, p < 0.01), and
19 patients with cardiac dysfunction and ischemic heart disease with v
entricular dilatation (p < 0.01, p < 0.05). Decrease in SVECG-QRS wave
height in DCM patients is considered specific for DCM. When 26 DCM pa
tients were divided into a subgroup ventricular tachycardia, VT(+)! o
f 11 patients with a history of monomorphic VT (greater-than-or-equal-
to 6 consecutive ventricular complexes occurring at a rate of 100 beat
s/min) and a subgroup VT(-)! of 15 other DCM patients, rho1-Mag was s
ignificantly depressed in the VT(+) subgroup compared to the VT(-) sub
group (71.5 +/- 27.0 versus 97.2 +/- 31.2 mV/s, p < 0.05), and rho2-Ma
g tended to be lower in the VT(+) subgroup (93.3 +/- 39.9 versus 100.3
+/- 34.0 mV/s). Both rho1-Mag and rho2-Mag were markedly depressed in
the DCM patients who were claimed by VT. These data suggest that: (1)
decrease in SVECG-QRS wave height is a new ECG sign of DCM; (2) marke
d depression in SVECG-QRS wave may be an important sign in predicting
progress in DCM.