Differences between ventricular tachyarrhythmias for patients with coronary artery disease and dilated cardiomyopathy

Coronary artery disease (CAD) and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) are structurally different heart diseases. Spontaneous ventricular tachyarrhythmias (VT) from implantable cardio-defibrillators (ICD) are studied to explore clinical differences between CAD and DCM. The analysis is focused on: number of VT episodes, variability of the VT onset (three modes are considered), VT-rate, coupling interval, prematurity index, median heart cycle of the 20 sec. preceding VT onset and circadian distribution of VT-onset. Significant differences are evaluated with p<0.05. 165 VT episodes among 37 patients (79 from 26 CAD and 86 from 11 DCM) are studied. DCM patients have more VT episodes (p<0.02) and greater variability of VT-onset (p<0.01) than CAD. Circadian distribution in CAD has peaks in morning and afternoon, while in DCM it is almost uniform during light hours. DCM patients have more VT, greater VT-onset variability and different circadian distributions.