Serial Electrocardiographic Changes in Treated Hypertensive Patients with Reference to Voltage Criteria, Mean QRS Vectors, and the QRS-T Angle

Serial changes in voltage, QRS vectors, and QRS-T angles were studied in 44 patients who had shown improvement in their electrocardiograms during treatment for hypertension. Changes were observed in a number of electrocardiographic voltage criteria often used in the study of left ventricular hypertrophy. This is consistent with a change in the magnitude of the mean QRS vector and its reflection on a variety of ECG leads even if pretreatment records were normal. Improvement also occurred in the mean T vectors and the QRS-T angle. It is proposed that serial changes in the ECG might be of greater value than pretreatment abnormalities in diagnosing the disorder of cardiac structure or function that occurs in hypertension.