title: Right axis deviation in acute myocardial infarction. Clinical significance, hospital evolution, and long-term follow-up.
abstract: The incidence, in-hospital evolution, and long-term follow-up were studied in patients who developed acute deviation of the mean (frontal) QRS axis to the right during an acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Among 3,160 patients evaluated, 13 (0.41 percent) developed left posterior hemiblock (LPHB) and 57 (1.8 percent) developed an incomplete form of LPHB, the right axis deviation group (RAD). Patients in the LPHB group had a statistically significant higher incidence of in-hospital morbidity (69 percent incidence of congestive heart failure) and mortality (38.5 percent). Follow-up revealed a statistically significant higher incidence of cardiac symptomatology (angina pectoris and congestive heart failure) in the RAD group than in the control group, mainly in patients in whom RAD persisted for more than 24 hours. Patients developing LPHB during AMI constitute a high risk population with a high incidence of morbidity and mortality. Patients developing RAD constitute an intermediate group (between the LPHB and the control group) characterized by a high incidence of cardiac symptoms at the time of follow-up.
mesh_terms: D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000209:etiology; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006327:Heart Block / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality; D010493:Pericarditis / Q000209:etiology; D011379:Prognosis; D013610:Tachycardia / Q000209:etiology; D014693:Ventricular Fibrillation / Q000209:etiology