THE U WAVE OF THE ELECTROCARDIOGRAM

THE U wave of the electrocardiogram has received but little attention in clinical electrocardiography because its significance was not clear. However, during the last 15 years an increasing number of reports has appeared in which changes of the U wave were found to be the chief clue leading to the correct clinical diagnosis. The development of intracellular electrography during the last few years has also made it possible to obtain considerable information concerning the significance and electrophysiologic basis of the U wave. In order to summarize our knowledge concerning the U wave and to further this knowledge through informal discussion among the investigators who have studied it, a symposium on the U wave was held on September 11, 1954, in Burlington, Vermont. It was sponsored by the Vermont Heart Association and the University of Vermont College of Medicine, and featured outstanding European as well as American speakers. It was originally planned to publish the entire proceedings of the Symposium in this Journal. However, the great length of the manuscripts made it necessary to select for publication only those presentations that contain observations not previously reported elsewhere, to abbreviate some of the papers, and also to exclude the discussion that took place at the end of each paper. It is planned to publish the full proceedings of the Symposium in monograph form.