Echocardiographic Assessment of the Interventricular Delay of Activation and Correlation to the QRS Width in Dilated Cardiomyopathy

The aim of the study was to define criteria for left ventricular pacing in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) using an echocardiographic evaluation of interventricular electromechanical delay (IMD) and a correlation of IMD to QRS duration. Standard 12-lead ECG and echocardiography with pulsed Doppler tissue imaging (DTI) were recorded in 35 DCM patients (mean age 58 +/- 11 years) with QRS duration from narrow (80 ms) to broad (222 ms) patterns. The timefor left ventricular activation was evaluated from the onset of QRS to the onset of aortic flow (Q-Ao) by standard pulsed Doppler (SP) or to the onset of mitral annulus systolic wave (Q-Mit) (DTI). The time for right ventricular activation was determinedfrom the onset of QRS to the onset of pulmonary flow (Q-Pulm) (SP) or to the onset of tricuspid annulus systolic wave (Q-Tri) (DTI). (Q-Ao)-(Q-Pulm) and (Q-Mit)-(Q-Tri) determined IMD for each method, respectively. QRS width and IMD showed correlation coefficients of r = 0.86 (Q-Ao-Q-Pulm) and r = 0.82 (Q-Mit-Q-Tri) (P 150 ms.