High-resolution electrocardiography and late-potential analysis are useful for identifying patients at greatest risk for developing ventricular tachycardia after myocardial infarction.
Does high-resolution electrocardiography recording of cardiac late potentials identify post-myocardial infarction patients at risk for ventricular tachycardia?
High-resolution ECG for detecting cardiac late potentials is a valuable tool for risk-stratifying post-myocardial infarction patients for ventricular tachycardia.
High-resolution electrocardiography utilizes computer processing to record low-levels signals not normally observed on standard electrocardiographs. Cardiac late potentials occur at the end of or after the QRS complex and require these methods to be quantified. A brief overview of the methods used to record late potentials is presented. These include lead placement, computer-implemented signal averaging, high-pass filtering, and feature extraction for characterizing the late potential. The major application of late- potential analysis has been in patients after myocardial infarction. Several of these studies are reviewed that demonstrate the usefulness of this new approach in identifying those patients at greatest risk for developing ventricular tachycardia. The most impressive studies have been those that compare late potentials with measures of ventricular performance and ventricular ectopy.
Edward J. Berbari (Mon,) conducted a review in Myocardial infarction. High-resolution electrocardiography was evaluated. High-resolution electrocardiography and late-potential analysis are useful for identifying patients at greatest risk for developing ventricular tachycardia after myocardial infarction.