title: Echocardiographic and electrocardiographic criteria for diagnosing left atrial enlargement.
abstract: Electrocardiographic criteria for left atrial enlargement (LAE) were evaluated in a group of 100 patients with a wide spectrum of cardiovascular diseases and compared with the echocardiographic measurement of left atrial dimension (LAD). Data analysis showed a high degree of correlation between the echocardiographic measurement of LAD and the EKG criteria for LAE. The magnitude of the P terminal force in lead V1 was the most specific of the EKG criteria evaluated, while the P/P-R segment ratio was least specific. Concordance between the two methods of measuring left atrial size increased when multiple positive EKG criteria were present.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006332:Cardiomegaly / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D004452:Echocardiography; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006325:Heart Atria; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged