Journal of electrocardiology最新文献

We report wide QRS complexes appearing in conjunction with prolonged R-R intervals in a 5- year old patient with situs ambiguous and mirror image dextrocardia, who had undergone ASD and VSD closure at of the age of one. We present differential diagnoses of intermittent spontaneous QRS widening and refer to ECG lead positioning in mirror image dextrocardia patients.

Background: Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) can be performed using one-shot cryoballoon ablation (cryo) or point-by-point radiofrequency ablation (RF). This study compares the changes in P-wave parameters between both ablation methods.

Methods: This single-centre retrospective study included contact force RF and second-generation cryo for PAF between 2018 and 2019. Procedure success was defined by freedom of ECG-documented AF at 12 months. Digital 12‑leads ECGs with 1-50 hertz bandpass filters were monitored directly during the procedure. Corrected P-wave duration (PWDc), P-wave voltage (PWV), P-wave dispersion (PWDisp), and P-wave terminal force in V1 (PTFV1) were measured and compared between RF and cryo. Additional ablations outside pulmonary veins were excluded.

Results: The final analysis included 226 patients, and the freedom of AF rate was similar at the 12-month follow-up between RF and cryo (76 % vs 74 %, P = 0.12). PWDc and PWV increased and decreased, respectively in both arms. PTFV1 decreased in RF (-3.3 mm.s to -4.6 mm.s, P < 0.001) and cryo (-3.4 mm.s to -5.3 mm.s,P = 0.002). There were similar changes after RF and cryo in PWDc (F_{11, 1032} = 0.80, P = 0.85), PWV (F_{11, 1032} = 0.19,P = 0.06), and PWDisp (F_{11, 1032} = 0.16,P = 0.34) and PTFV1 (P = 0.39). Increased PWDc was correlated with failure of RF (hazard ratio [2.3], 95 % confidence interval [CI]: 1.4-5.9, p = 0.01) and cryo (HR: 2.1, 95 % CI (1.3-4.6), p = 0.02). Results were similar when patients on antiarrhythmic drugs were excluded.

Conclusion: RF and cryo caused similar freedom of AF rate at 12 months in PAF and similar P-wave parameter changes.

Background: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is associated with left atrial (LA) dyfunction, which may contribute to adverse cardiovascular outcomes. This study investigates the predictive value of lately identified morphology-voltage-P wave duration electrocardiography (MVP ECG) score for detecting early LA dysfunction in COPD patients.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 101 COPD patients were enrolled. All patients underwent speckle tracking echocardiography and were classified into two groups based on their LA functions.

Results: Our findings demonstrate significant variations in Peak Atrial Longitudinal Strain (PALS) values among COPD patients, with a mean PALS of 28.74 ± 1.81 % for the group with normal LA function and 18.44 ± 1.87 % for the group with abnormal LA function (p < 0.001). Despite similar LA diameters across groups, these variations indicate subclinical LA pathogenesis. ROC curve analysis indicated that an MVP ECG score greater than 2.5 predicted abnormal LA function with a sensitivity of 65 % and a specificity of 91 % (area under the curve [AUC]: 0.873; p < 0.001), suggesting its utility in identifying atrial damage and remodeling.

Conclusions: The MVP ECG score shows promise as a tool for early detection of atrial remodeling in COPD patients.

Introduction: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in clinical practice, yet interpretation concerns among healthcare providers persist. Confounding factors contribute to false-positive and false-negative AF diagnoses, leading to potential omissions. Artificial intelligence advancements show promise in electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation. We sought to examine the diagnostic accuracy of ChatGPT-4omni (GPT-4o), equipped with image evaluation capabilities, in interpreting ECGs with confounding factors and compare its performance to that of physicians.

Methods: Twenty ECG cases, divided into Group A (10 cases of AF or atrial flutter) and Group B (10 cases of sinus or another atrial rhythm), were crafted into multiple-choice questions. Total of 100 practitioners (25 from each: emergency medicine, internal medicine, primary care, and cardiology) were tasked to identify the underlying rhythm. Next, GPT-4o was prompted in five separate sessions.

Results: GPT-4o performed inadequately, averaging 3 (±2) in Group A questions and 5.40 (±1.34) in Group B questions. Upon examining the accuracy of the total ECG questions, no significant difference was found between GPT-4o, internists, and primary care physicians (p = 0.952 and = 0.852, respectively). Cardiologists outperformed other medical disciplines and GPT-4o (p < 0.001), while emergency physicians followed in accuracy, though comparison to GPT-4o only indicated a trend (p = 0.068).

Conclusion: GPT-4o demonstrated suboptimal accuracy with significant under- and over-recognition of AF in ECGs with confounding factors. Despite its potential as a supportive tool for ECG interpretation, its performance did not surpass that of medical practitioners, underscoring the continued importance of human expertise in complex diagnostics.

Background: The prevalence and severity of QT interval prolongation (long QT, LQT) in takotsubo syndrome (TS) is not well described.

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study of all patients admitted in our Centre between January 2019 and December 2023 with confirmed TS. QT interval corrected for heart rate (QTc) (Bazzett formula) was measured manually in all available ECGs. Presence of other ECG abnormalities (T-wave inversion (TWI), ST segment elevation (STE), ST segment depression (STD)) were also recorded.

Results: Fifty-eight patients were included, all women (68 ± 11 years). Fifty-six patients (96.6 %) had classical, apical ballooning form of TS. Symptoms included chest pain (93.1 %), dyspnoea (10.3 %), and others (5.2 %). Triggers were present in 70.7 % of patients. Three-hundred-and-thirty ECGs were analysed. LQT was infrequent in the first 3 h after symptom onset (23.5 % of patients), and was only mild. However, between 24 and 48 h after symptom onset, 90.9 % of patients developed LQT, which was severe (≥500 ms) in 63.6 % of patients. LQT prevalence decreased afterwards but QTc did not return to normal in 40.0 % of patients, and remained severely prolonged in 11.4 % of patients beyond 96 h. ECG was normal in 40.5 % of patients in the first 6 h. TWI was the predominant ECG change, and its prevalence increased from 16.7 % within the first 6 h to 76.9 % after 7 days. STE was present in 31.4 % of patients in the first 96 h, but was rare in isolation. Isolated STD did not occur.

Conclusion: LQT is almost universally seen in patients with TS within the first 96 h after symptom onset, and is severe in the majority. ECGs abnormalities in TS are highly dynamic, but ECGs are frequently normal in the first 6 h after symptom onset. Patients should be monitored for at least 96 h after symptom onset, and until QTc falls below 500 ms.

ECG in Brugada syndrome (BrS) is characterized by a ST-segment elevation in the right precordial leads. Overlap between ST-segment changes in BrS and ischemia may lead to diagnostic challenges. We report a case of a male patient presented with recurrent chest pain episodes and ST elevation in the right precordial leads consistent with Brugada ECG pattern type 1 and was clinically diagnosed with BrS at the age of 30 years. During follow up the patient developed acute myocardial infarction with pronounced ST depression in the right precordial leads, masking the Brugada pattern of the baseline ECG.

Neurocardiology is a broad interdisciplinary specialty investigating how the cardiovascular and nervous systems interact. In this brief introductory review, we describe several key aspects of this interaction with specific attention to cardiovascular effects. The review introduces basic anatomy and discusses physiological mechanisms and effects that play crucial roles in the interaction of the cardiovascular and nervous systems, namely: the cardiac neuraxis, the taxonomy of the nervous system, integration of sensory input in the brainstem, influences of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) on heart and vasculature, the neural pathways and functioning of the arterial baroreflex, receptors and ANS effects in the walls of blood vessels, receptors and ANS effects in excitable cells in the heart, ANS effects on heart rate and sympathovagal balance, endo-epicardial inhomogeneity, ANS effects with a balanced vagal and sympathetic stimulation, sympathovagal interaction, arterial baroreflex, baroreflex sensitivity and heart rate variability, arrhythmias and the arterial baroreflex, the cardiopulmonary baroreflex, the exercise pressor reflex, exercise-recovery hysteresis, mental stress, cardiac-cardiac reflexes, the cardiac sympathetic afferent reflex (CSAR), and neuromodulation. Also, the potential role of the discussed mechanisms in cardiovascular disorders will be touched upon.

Objective: The present study was conducted to assess the accuracy and reliability of portable 12‑lead electrocardiography (ECG) devices in patients with heart disease.

Materials and methods: This single-center, prospective, blinded study enrolled 62 patients between September and October 2023 from the Heart Center of a Class III hospital. In sequential tests on each patient, heart rate (HR) and the PR, QT, QTc and QRS intervals of ECG recordings obtained with a portable 12‑lead device (Weheal, CN) were compared with those obtained via conventional 12‑lead ECG. ECG parameters were read in batches by 3 blinded electrophysiologists. Two-tailed paired t-tests were used to compare the continuous variables. Agreement was evaluated via Bland-Altman plots.

Results: Sixty-two patients were included. HR and the QT, QTc and QRS intervals from the portable 12‑lead electrocardiogram recordings were essentially the same as those obtained via conventional ECG. Bland-Altman analysis revealed no significant differences in these values, indicating suitable agreement between the 2 measurements. The PR interval was 176.89 ± 29.53 ms in the portable group and 161.56 ± 17.78 ms in the standard group, which was statistically (p < 0.001) but not clinically significant.

Conclusions: ECG recordings obtained with a portable 12‑lead device (Weheal, CN) allow for accurate HR, PR, QT, QTc and QRS assessments. Considering its simplicity, this approach has advantages over conventional ECG and can provide an alternative for evaluating patients outside the hospital. How to improve patients' acceptance of portable ECG machines still needs further research.

A septuagenarian man underwent dual chamber pacemaker (DDDR - Boston Scientific Massachusetts, U.S.) insertion for a complete heart block. Intra-procedural lead parameters were within normal limits. Frequent multisite origin premature ventricular complexes were noted even on pre-procedural electrocardiogram (ECG). On the follow-up ECG one pacing spike on the QRS of the first beat was followed by two pacing spikes on the T wave with a total of three pacing spikes on the whole QRST of the first complex. What is the mechanism?

Background: Malignant arrhythmia due to ventricular depolarization and repolarization alterations after atrioventricular node (AVN) ablation is a known clinical entity. Here, we aimed to demonstrate the ventricular depolarization and repolarization changes in patients who underwent left bundle branch area pacing (LBBaP) and AVN ablation.

Methods: This is a single-center, retrospective preliminary study (n = 10). All patients underwent single-chamber pacemaker implantation with LBBaP before the AVN ablation procedure. Electrocardiographic (ECG) parameters [QRS duration (QRSd), QTc (Fridericia formula), Tp-e, and JT interval] were measured and analyzed before and after the procedure.

Results: The mean age of the study population was 67.1 ± 8.88 years, and 70 % of the patients were female. 60 % of the patients had AF, and 40 % of them had atrial tachycardia during the procedures. Eight patients had undergone more than two catheter ablations before the procedure. The QT interval (263.47 ± 26.79 vs. 416.14 ± 36.31 msec) and QRSd (93.3 ± 7.3 vs. 122.32 ± 21.16 msec) were prolonged when the patient's ECG parameters were analyzed. Still, the Tp-Te interval (75.57 ± 18.62 vs. 80.93 ± 17.35 msec) did not change, and the QTc (Fridericia formula) interval (425 ± 29.82 vs. 461.70 ± 35.33 msec) did not show a significant difference.

Conclusion: Malignant arrhythmia may occur due to ventricular depolarization and repolarization changes after the AVN ablation procedure. This study showed no significant change in Tp-e and QTc durations previously defined for malignant arrhythmia development. At the same time, JT time, which indicates ventricular repolarization duration, did not show a significant difference. LBBaP is more physiological and safer for patients planning to undergo AVN ablation.