Electrocardiographic criteria for the diagnosis of anterior myocardial infarction: importance of the duration of precordial R waves.
A systematic evaluation of a large number of electrocardiographic (ECG) variables that might be useful for diagnosing anterior myocardial infarction (MI) is reported. Previous anterior MI was shown to be present or absent by cardiac catheterization in 199 patients. The best discriminator between cases and noncases of anterior MI in most patients is the presence of a Q wave of any magnitude or an initial R wave less than 20 ms in lead V2. In patients with ECG evidence of associated left ventricular or type C right ventricular enlargement, the more stringent criterion of a Q wave of any magnitude in lead V2 yielded the optimal combination of sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing anterior MI. The diagnostic performance of the proposed criteria for anterior MI is superior to that of more traditional criteria that use measurements of the absolute and relative amplitudes of precordial R waves.
D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis*