12-lead electrocardiogram features of arrhythmic risk: A focus on early repolarization.
The 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) is still the most used tool in cardiology clinical practice. Considering its easy accessibility, low cost and the information that it provides, it remains the starting point for diagnosis and prognosis. More specifically, its ability to detect prognostic markers for sudden cardiac death due to arrhythmias by identifying specific patterns that express electrical disturbances of the heart muscle, which may predispose to malignant arrhythmias, is universally recognized. Alterations in the ventricular repolarization process, identifiable on a 12-lead ECG, play a role in the genesis of ventricular arrhythmias in different cardiac diseases. The aim of this paper is to focus the attention on a new marker of arrhythmic risk, the early repolarization pattern in order to highlight the prognostic role of the 12-lead ECG.
Caterina Rizzo, Francesco Monitillo, School of Cardiology, Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation, University of Bari, 70124 Bari, Italy.
Caterina
C
Rizzo
Caterina Rizzo, Francesco Monitillo, School of Cardiology, Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation, University of Bari, 70124 Bari, Italy.
Francesco
F
Monitillo
Caterina Rizzo, Francesco Monitillo, School of Cardiology, Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation, University of Bari, 70124 Bari, Italy.
Massimo
M
Iacoviello
Arrhythmia; Arrhythmic risk; Cardiovascular diseases; Early repolarization; Ventricular repolarization