COMPARISON OF THE SENSITIVITY AND SPECIFI CITY OF ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHIC CRITERIA FOR LEFT-VENTRICULAR HYPERTROPHY ACCORDING TO THE ROMHILT-ESTES, SOKOLOW-LYON, CORNELL AND RODRIGUEZ-PADIAL METHODS

Introduction and objectives. Because left ventricular mass is associat ed with an increase in the risk of morbidity and mortality of cardiova scular diseases in the general population having the electrocardiogram as an accesible and inexpensive method for the diagnosis of left vent ricular hypertrophy, we decided to calculate the sensitivity and speci ficity of 5 electrocardiographic criteria for the diagnosis of left ve ntricular hypertrophy and to compare the results of the original autho rs to ours. Patients and methods. 135 patients were evaluated; 46 pati ents were excluded by the following criteria: chronic obstructive pulm onary disease, complete left or right bundle branch block, cardiovascu lar ischemic disease or Wolf-Parkinson-White Syndrome. 89 patients rem ained and had an electrocardiogram performed applying the following cr iteria: Romhilt-Estes Point-Score system, Sokolow-Lyon (SV1 + RV5 or V 6 > 3,5 mV) and (RaVL > 1.1 mV), Cornell and Rodriguez Padial. Left ve ntricular hypertrophy was defined by the Penn Convention Criteria. Res ults. In our study we obtained the following results: a) Romhilt-Estes had a sensitivity of 12% and a specificity of 87%; b) Sokolow-Lyon (S V1 + RV5 or V6) had a sensitivity of 22% and a specificity of 79%; c) Sokolow-Lyon (RaVL) has a sensitivity of 18% and a specificity of 92%; d) Cornel had a sensitivity of 31% and a specificity of 87%, and e) R odriguez Padial had a sensitivity of 82% and a specificity of 8%. Ther e are similarities between our results and the authors's original ones , However, there are significant statistical differences between them (p less than or equal to 0,01). Conclusion. Our conclusion is that the se criteria have a low diagnostic value in the isolated interpretation of patients with left ventricular hypertrophy, and we need to integra te them with the whole medical history and physical examination.