[Correlation of heart rate turbulence to coronary lesions and its changes following percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the correlation between heart rate turbulence (HRT) and coronary lesion and the effects of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) on HRT.


METHODS
This study involved 150 patients undergoing 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiography (AECG) and elective coronary angiography (CAG). AECG was monitored on the first day and 7 days after PTCA in 108 patients with positive CAG findings, and the variation of HRT and cardiac functions were observed. The turbulence onset (TO), turbulence slope (TS) and turbulence timing (TT) of each section of HRT were calculated, analyzed and compared.


RESULTS
The values of TO and TT were significantly higher and TS significantly lower in CAG-positive group than in CAG-negative group (P<0.05 or 0.001). Significant difference was found in TO, TS and TT between patients with single and multiple coronary lesions (P<0.05 and 0.001). The values of TO, TS and TT on the first day after PTCA improved significantly in comparison with the those before PTCA in patients with single and multiple coronary lesions (P<0.001). Postoperative follow-up of the patients revealed obviously attenuated HRT in patients with left cardiac insufficiency compared with the patients with normal cardiac function (P<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
HRT is correlated to the severity of the coronary lesions and shows significant improvement after PTCA. Cardiac function insufficiency is an important factor affecting the HRT attenuation.
Lin
Xiao-Ming
XM
Department of Cardiology, First People's Hospital of Foshan, Foshan, China. lxming6583@sohu.com
Yang
Xi-Li
XL
Xiao
Zhang-Hua
ZH
Li
Jian-Min
JM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000150:complications*; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D015716:Electrocardiography, Ambulatory; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018879:Ventricular Premature Complexes / Q000150:complications