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(Circulation. 1967;36:261.)
© 1967 American Heart Association, Inc.

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Incomplete Left Bundle-Branch Block

The View from Transseptal Intraventricular Leads

RICHARD F. LEIGHTON M.D.¹; JOSEPH M. RYAN M.D.¹; RICHARD S. GOODWIN M.S.¹; CHARLES F. WOOLEY M.D.¹; ARNOLD M. WEISSLER M.D.¹

¹ From the Department of Medicine (Division of Cardiology), The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, Ohio.

The direction of the initial 20 to 30 msec forces of multiple unipolar and transseptal bipolar intraventricular electrocardiograms was examined in five patients with and five without incomplete left bundle-branch block (LBBB) and in one patient with complete LBBB. The data obtained were consistent with preservation of the normal left-to-right and apex-to-base direction of septal depolarization in patients with apparent, incomplete LBBB. Furthermore, no evidence of electromechanical delay in the left ventricle could be ascribed to this conduction defect. Until the minute details of normal and abnormal human septal excitation become known, it is suggested that the more descriptive and less mechanistic term "initial force abnormality" be substituted for "incomplete LBBB."

Key Words: Intracavitary electrocardiograms • Intraventricular conduction defect • Septal excitation • Ventricular contraction