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The Association between T‐Wave Morphology and Life‐Threatening Ventricular Tachyarrhythmias in Patients with Congestive Heart Failure
Author(s) -
LIN YENHUNG,
LIN LIANYU,
CHEN YINGSHREN,
HUANG HUICHUN,
LEE JENKUANG,
HO YILWUN,
LIAO LINCHU,
CHEN WENJONE
Publication year - 2009
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.1540-8159.2009.02461.x
Subject(s) - medicine , cardiology , heart failure , qrs complex , ventricular fibrillation , odds ratio , ventricular tachycardia , confidence interval
Background:Whether T‐wave morphology descriptors on the 12‐lead electrocardiogram (ECG) can predict the occurrence of life‐threatening ventricular arrhythmia in patients with advanced congestive heart failure is unclear.Methods:Standard 12‐lead ECGs were photoscanned and digitized for analysis in 27 heart failure patients with ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation (VT/VF; study group), as well as in 54 age‐ and sex‐matched heart failure patients without life‐threatening ventricular arrhythmia as a control group. Novel T‐wave morphology descriptors were compared.Results:The results showed that the temporal descriptor, the lead dispersion (LD; 426.5 ± 279.8 vs 189.0 ± 125.7, P < 0.001), was significantly higher in the study than in the control group. The other T‐wave morphology parameters, such as the T‐wave morphology dispersion (45.7 ± 20.1 vs 44.9 ± 18.6), the total cosine between QRS and T wave (TCRT; −0.4 ± 0.4 vs −0.5 ± 0.3), and the normalized T‐loop area (NTLA; 0.5 ± 0.1 vs 0.4 ± 0.1), were not significantly different between the two groups (all P value > 0.05) . After an adjustment for other clinical variables, increased LD (odds ratio: 9.9, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.9–33.4, P < 0.001) or decreased NTLA (odds ratio: 0.4, 95% CI: 0.1–1.0, P = 0.05) was associated with VT/VF.Conclusion:The novel T‐wave morphology analysis may help in identifying heart failure patients at high risk for VT/VF.