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QT Dispersion in Children With Ventricular Arrhythmia and a Structurally Normal Heart
Author(s) -
WALLER B. RUSH,
BALAJI SESHADRI,
YE XIAOBU,
GILLETTE PAUL C.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
pacing and clinical electrophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.686
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1540-8159
pISSN - 0147-8389
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-8159.1999.tb00447.x
Subject(s) - medicine , qt interval , cardiology , long qt syndrome , sudden cardiac death , heart disease , electrocardiography
In adults, increased QT dispersion has been shown to predict arrhythmic risk as well as risk of sudden death in several clinical settings. It is not known whether or not QT dispersion is increased in children with idiopathic ventricular arrhythmia. We studied three groups of children: (1) 20 patients with idiopathic VT (aged 3–18 years; mean 11.2 years); (2) 30 patients with benign PVCs (aged 1–20 years; mean 10.5 years); and (3) 30 control subjects (aged 4–17 years; mean 12 years). Standard ECGs were reviewed and the dispersion of both QT and JT intervals was compared. No patient had structural heart disease or long QT syndrome. The QT and QT c dispersion (QTΔ, QT c Δ) among the three groups did not differ: QT c Δ of the VT group was 70 ms ± 30 ms, QT c Δ of PVC patients was 60 ms ± 30 ms, and the QT c Δ of the control group was 65 ms ± 30 ms. The JT c Δ among the three groups did not differ as well: JT c Δ of the VT group was 70 ms ± 30 ms, the JT c Δ of the PVC group was 60 msec ± 25 msec, and the JT c Δ of the control group was 70 ms ± 30 ms. We conclude that QT and JT dispersion are not significantly altered in children with idiopathic VT or benign PVCs when compared to control subjects. QT dispersion is not a reliable marker for arrhythmic risk in children with idiopathic ventricular arrhythmias and structurally normal hearts.