Evaluation of the electrocardiographic criteria for left ventricular hypertrophy with use of three-dimensional echocardiography.
BACKGROUND
Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is a common condition that carries an increased risk of cardiovascular events. Use of ECG in detection of LVH is limited because of the reported low sensitivity. Conventional echocardiographic techniques used as the standard for estimating left ventricular (LV) mass have limitations related to the position of the image plane and shape of the ventricle. Three-dimensional echocardiography is free of these limitations and therefore is more accurate. We hypothesized that accuracy of ECG criteria for LVH would improve when LV mass was assessed by three-dimensional echocardiography.


RESULTS
For most of the criteria, sensitivity, specificity and accuracy improved when LV mass was assessed by three-dimensional echocardiography. Two-dimensional echocardiography significantly overestimated LV mass as compared with the three-dimensional method.


CONCLUSIONS
Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the ECG criteria improved when LV mass was estimated by three-dimensional echocardiography. This improvement may be attributed at least in part to superior accuracy of three-dimensional measurements.
Gopal
Aasha S
AS
St. Francis Hospital, Adult Noninvasive Lab, 100 Port Washington, Roslyn, NY 11576, USA. Aasha.Gopal@chsli.org
Butkevich
Alexander
A
Roychoudhury
Debasish
D
Phillips
Robert A
RA
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019560:Echocardiography, Three-Dimensional; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity