Contribution of Electrocardiogram in the Differentiation of Cardiac Amyloidosis and Nonobstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.
Due to similar manifestations of hypertensive ventricular walls and abnormal ventricular compliance, it is difficult to differentiate cardiac amyloidosis (CA) and nonobstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (NOHCM) clinically. The purpose of the study was to investigate the value of electrocardiography (ECG) in the differentiation of the two diseases.


METHODS
We enrolled 46 consecutive patients with CA and 64 patients with NOHCM and compared their ECG characteristics.Compared with NOHCM patients, the ECG of CA patients showed more low voltage on limb leads (50% versus 1.6%), atrioventricular block (21.7% versus 4.7%), pseudo-infarct pattern (84.8% versus 39.1%), and longer QRS duration (104 ± 25 versus 98 ± 14 ms) (all P < 0.05). The QRS complex voltage of avR demonstrated the highest diagnostic performance (sensitivity 89%, specificity 94%, cut-off value 0.45mV) as assessed by ROC analysis. The combination of the R wave voltage of I and avR reached a sensitivity of 95% and a specificity of 87% for the diagnosis of amyloidosis.Compared with NOHCM patients, CA patients showed more ECG characteristics of low voltage on limb leads, pseudo-infarct pattern, atrioventricular block, and longer QRS duration. The combination of the R wave voltage of I, avR, and QRS was of diagnostic value in the differentiation of CA from NOHCM.
Heart-Lung Testing Center, State Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease, Fuwai Hospital, National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College.
Jinghan
J
Huang
Shihua
S
Zhao
Zaijiang
Z
Chen
Shu
S
Zhang
Minjie
M
Lu
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000686:Amyloidosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D002312:Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D002681:China; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012372:ROC Curve; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity