T-wave morphology and arrhythmic events in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy
- Resource Type
- Conference
- Authors
- Couderc, J.P.; Zareba, W.; Xia, X.; Andrew, M.; Moss, A.J.
- Source
- Computers in Cardiology, 2003 Computers in cardiology Computers in Cardiology, 2003. :149-152 2003
- Subject
- Bioengineering
Computing and Processing
Signal Processing and Analysis
Morphology
Cardiology
Electrocardiography
Area measurement
Heart rate interval
History
Heart rate
Myocardium
Software measurement
CD recording
- Language
Atypical T wave morphology on scalar ECG may reflect abnormalities of the ventricular repolarization process but the link between these abnormalities and the occurrence of arrhythmic events is unclear. In this study, we investigated whether the occurrence of ventricular tachycardia (VT) in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) have specific T wave morphology that may characterize their increased risk for cardiac death (CD). From 24-hour Holter ECG recordings, T-wave morphology and symmetry were quantified in the three orthogonal leads using T-wave area based measurements in addition to conventional QT interval measurements. We compared the T wave characteristics (duration and morphology) between patients according to their cardiac history (VT or CD). Our results did not evidence significant differences in QT durations between patients with and without a history of VT at any heart rate but revealed a prolongation of the terminal portion of the T-wave at high heart rate in patients with VT (91 /spl plusmn/ 21 vs. 102 /spl plusmn/ 20 ms, p = 0.03 for RR between 600-700 ms). Analysis of T wave morphology may play a role in the identification of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy at higher risk for arrhythmic events.