To Detect Left Atrial Enlargment in Patient with Rheumatic Mitral Stenosis with Electrocardiography and It’s Corelation with Transthrasic 2D Echocardiography

Introduction: Rheumatic heart disease is still common heart disease in India accounting for about 40% of total hospitalized cardiac cases in India and is most common cause of cardiac morbidity and mortality in the country. Mitral valve is most commonly affected, mitral stenosis (MS) being the most common manifestation. Female patients are more affected as compared to male patients. Aims and Objectives: To correlate Electrocardiography (ECG) and 2D ECHO cardiography in detecting left atrial enlargement (LAE) in rheumatic mitral stenosis (RMS). Material and Methods: The present study was a hospital based cross sectional study carried out from August 2014 to May 2015 at a tertiary care teaching hospital of central India. A total of 70 cases of RMS who came to Medicine department were enrolled in the study. Observations: Out of 70 patients 30 were male and 40 females majority being in the age group <30 years. Severe mitral stenosis was found in 44.3% of the patients and that too, more in females as compared to males. On ECG, P-mitrale (ECG criteria for LA abnormality) was most common finding, found in 36.3% patients. 41.4% of patients showed LAE on 2D ECHO. Conclusion: Currently 2D ECHO is used for diagnosis left atrial enlargement in RMS, which although considered more efficacious is costly and time consuming. The findings of present study suggests that ECG can detect LAE in RMS with nearly same efficacy as that of 2D ECHO with added advantage of being less costly and less time consuming.