(Circulation. 2000;102:685.)
© 2000 American Heart Association, Inc.
Basic Science Reports |
From Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah (M.S.F., B.P., B.T., R.S.M., P.R.E., L.S.G., R.L.L.), and MTA Institute for Technical Physics and Materials Science, Budapest, Hungary (G.S.).
Correspondence to Marc S. Fuller, PhD, CVRTI, Bldg 500, 95 South 2000 East, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-5000. E-mail fuller{at}cvrti.utah.edu
| Abstract |
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Methods and ResultsUsing isolated, perfused canine hearts suspended in a torso-shaped electrolytic tank, we simultaneously recorded electrograms from 64 epicardial sites and ECGs from 192 "body surface" sites. RMS curves were derived from 4 lead sets: epicardial, body surface, precordial, and a 6-lead optimal set. Repolarization was altered by changing cycle length, temperature, and activation sequence. Rd, calculated directly from recovery times of the 64 epicardial potentials, was then compared with the width of the T wave of the RMS curve and with QTd for each of these 4 lead sets. The correlation between T-wave width and Rd for each lead set, respectively, was epicardium, 0.91; body surface, 0.84; precordial, 0.72; and optimal leads, 0.81. The correlation between QTd and Rd for each lead set was epicardium, 0.46; body surface, 0.47; precordial, 0.17; and optimal leads, 0.11.
ConclusionsRMS curve analysis provides an accurate method of estimating Rd from the body surface. In contrast, QTd analysis provides a poor estimate of Rd.
Key Words: fibrillation electrocardiography arrhythmia
| Introduction |
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Unfortunately, until recently, clinical evaluation of repolarization dispersion (Rd) was seldom attempted. Little clinical interest in measures of disparity resulted from the impracticality of applying the 2 primary techniques, body surface mapping2 3 and direct epicardial or endocardial recording,4 5 on a large scale. Only recently have investigators attempted to use standard ECGs to assess Rd. Some studies have found that QT dispersion (QTd) across standard ECG leads is a statistical predictor for various clinical abnormalities.6 7 8 On the basis of these results, they infer that these measurements reflect Rd. However, relatively little work has been done that directly associates QTd with Rd.
The research presented here had 2 purposes: first, to
introduce a new technique to estimate Rd based on the width of the
root-mean-square (RMS) T wave generated from a set of ECG leads; and
second, to investigate the relation between QTd and Rd. We accomplished
both of these objectives through the use of isolated, perfused canine
hearts suspended in a torso-shaped electrolytic tank that permitted
simultaneous measurement of epicardial electrograms and
tank surface ECGs. Two hypotheses were tested to accomplish these
goals: First, the width of the RMS T wave is correlated with Rd, and
second, QTd is correlated with Rd. It is important to note that we
investigated these hypotheses by using data from the following 4
different lead sets: (1) 64 epicardial electrograms from which recovery
times were actually measured, (2) 192-lead ECG body surface, (3) 6
standard precordial ECG leads, and (4) an "optimal" 6-lead set
(see Figure 1
), which Fuller et
al9 have shown to provide good estimates of ST-segment
shifts across the entire body surface.
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Through the use of these various lead sets, we believe that we have investigated the ability of both techniques to predict Rd both in an idealized setting and in conditions similar to those facing the clinician.
| Methods |
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The electrolytic tank used for these studies was a fiberglass shell
molded from an adolescents thorax, which was filled with an
electrolyte of saline and sucrose balanced to offer 500
-cm
resistivity, a typical mean value for the human thorax. The electrolyte
was circulated through a heat exchanger for temperature control,
normally maintained at 37°C. The tank surface contained 192 silver
electrodes arranged in a uniformly spaced 16x12 grid. An epicardial
electrode array was fabricated by knotting 64 insulated
0.005-inch-diameter silver wires into a heart-shaped nylon fabric,
removing insulation at the knots, and plating with silver
chloride to reduce polarization potentials. The array was pulled
over the isolated heart and tied to the support structure.
Data Acquisition
Data were recorded simultaneously from the 192
tank and 64 epicardial surface sites. Recordings were taken
while stimulating from the atrium or 32 different
ventricular sites with the use of twice-threshold, bipolar
pacing. To alter repolarization, cycle lengths were varied from 300 to
600 ms, and the temperature of the electrolyte solution was varied from
32o to 40°C. The data were acquired with a
256-channel multiplexer capable of 12-bit resolution and 1000
samples/s. The bandwidth of the recording system was 0.03 to
500 Hz. Three separate preparations were used to obtain data for this
study, resulting in 52 separate recordings, details for which
are provided in Table 1
.
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Data Analysis
QT Interval
Traditionally, deviation from baseline or intercept of maximum
slope with the baseline have been used to determine fiducial points
such as the end of the T wave.12 We discarded these
approaches because of their sensitivity to noise and their inability to
select the start and end points in the presence of wandering baselines.
Instead, maximum curvature was used to determine all onset and offset
points (see Figure 3
). Curvature is a
unitless quantity that is calculated as follows:
![]() |
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The determination of QT interval is often difficult when there are multiple deflections during repolarization (T and U waves). In this study, the termination was always chosen at the end of the final deflection. The motivation for this was based on the observation that almost every recording that had multiple deflections on the body surface map, as well as the cardiac surface map, was a "transition waveform" between two other leads, one having an early T wave and the second a later T wave. Because these waveforms were a transition between two others, the selection of their end point had no practical effect on the analysis, since other leads had both earlier and later end T times.
To ensure that this new technique gave results similar to traditional methods of QT interval determination, we compared it with the maximum slope method.12 A comparison of QT intervals over 700 ECG leads taken from all 3 animal experiments showed that the 2 methods produced highly correlated intervals (r=0.95), with large discrepancies only present when there was baseline wander in the signal, causing the maximum slope method to fail.
Recovery Times
As previously stated, the measurements from which Rd was
determined was the recovery times of the 64 epicardial leads. Both RMS
T-wave width and QT dispersion were compared with this standard.
The determination of recovery
times for the epicardial leads is described below.
Time zero was arbitrarily defined as QRS onset of the epicardial RMS
curve generated from each recording. Then, for each individual
epicardial electrogram, the time of maximum slope near the peak of the
T wave was defined as the recovery time (Figure 4
). This measurement
has been documented to reflect time of action potential downstroke as
measured from floating microelectrodes located within 1 mm of the
unipolar electrodes.13 14 Electrograms that were
equivocal, either because of noise or because of possible multiple
inflections, were discarded. We considered the peak derivative
associated with repolarization to be valid only if it was 3 times
bigger than the RMS noise of the derivative signal in the T-P
segment.
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Determination of Recovery Time and QT Interval Dispersion
For both QTd and Rd, we used range (maximum value minus minimum
value) as measures of repolarization dispersion. Although standard
deviation may be statistically more robust, range is used in most
clinical studies. Furthermore, in our experience, both in these and
other experiments, range of Rd is consistently
4 times its
standard deviation. QTd was calculated for the 64 epicardial lead set,
the 192-lead body surface map, and the 2 6-lead subsets of the body
surface map: precordial and "optimal" (see Figure 1
).
Generation of RMS Curves
From each of the 52 recordings, 4 RMS curves were
generated, 1 from each of the 4 different lead sets: epicardium, torso
surface, precordial leads, and optimal 6 leads. For the torso data,
the RMS curve was generated from the 192 individual leads according to
the following formula
![]() |
As with the determination of QT intervals, the start and end of the T
wave of the RMS waveforms were determined by means of time of maximum
curvature, as described above. If the curvature peak was not 3 times
above the RMS noise of the curvature signal in the T-P segment, the
measurement was rejected. Figure 5
shows
this technique applied to the RMS body surface waveform.
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Analysis
We tested the following 2 hypotheses: (1) The width of the T
wave of the RMS waveform is correlated with Rd. For each of the 52
experimental paradigms shown in Table 1
, recovery times from all
64 epicardial leads were computed (also see Figure 6
). Rd, defined as the range
(maximum minus minimum) of all recovery times, was then determined.
This value of Rd, determined from the 64 epicardial leads, was the
standard to which both the width of RMS T waves and QTd were compared.
Four RMS T-wave widths, 1 from each of the 4 lead sets, were then
determined for each experimental run. (2) QTd is correlated with Rd.
With the use of the same calculation of Rd as in hypothesis 1, Rd was
compared with QTd. As with Rd, QTd was defined as the range of all QT
times over a particular lead set. The result was a comparison of Rd of
the 64 epicardial leads with 4 different QTds, 1 for each of the 4 lead
sets. Scatterplots and correlation coefficients were used for
comparison of Rd and QTd.
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| Results |
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In almost all the remaining runs, some QT and/or recovery time
measurements were discarded because of failure to meet the measurement
criteria. Typically, QT measurements were discarded because of the lack
of a significant T wave, which resulted in no valid curvature maximum
at the end of the waveform. Recovery time measurements were discarded
if the T-wave derivative maximum did not meet requirements described in
the Methods section. Statistics for excluded measurements, both from
the body surface and epicardial measurements, are presented in
Table 2
.
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Estimates of Rd
With the use of the 52 data sets from the qualifying runs, Rd was
compared with both RMS T wave width and QTd. Rd from the 64 epicardial
leads was plotted against QTd and RMS T-wave width for all 4 lead sets.
These scatterplots are presented in Figure 7
, along with the least-squares
regression line for each lead set. Correlation coefficients for Rd
versus both RMS T-wave width and QTd are presented in Table 3
.
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| Discussion |
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How an optimal lead set is determined deserves a brief explanation. The technique used9 attempts to optimize the estimation of potentials over the entire torso. Each lead is selected because it provides as much independent information as possible about potential distribution across the body surface. The iterative process picks the first lead by examining its correlation with all other leads on a 192-lead torso map. The lead with the highest mean correlation with all other leads is selected. After removing information predicted by the first lead, a second lead is chosen in a similar manner. This process is usually repeated until the RMS error of the predicted potentials is reduced to some predetermined value. An important point to note is that this optimization was done across a series of 42 subjects and need not be repeated on a patient-to-patient basis. The resulting lead sets "optimization" is then minimization of RMS error when predicting potentials across the entire torso.
Other Methods of Estimating Repolarization Irregularities
The technique presented here provides a method of
estimating Rd on a beat-to-beat basis. However, it does not provide a
total picture of repolarization. Another method that was originally
suggested by Wilson et al16 is the QRST integral map.
Wilson et al postulated that if all action potentials throughout the
ventricles had the same duration, the integrals (areas) of QRS and ST-T
waveforms in any ECG lead should be equal in magnitude and opposite in
polarity, thus canceling on their algebraic combination. The obvious
corollary to this hypothesis is that when the QRS and ST-T areas of any
ECG lead do not add to zero, the result is an indication of the
disparity of action potential duration as seen by that lead. An
important theoretical17 18 and experimentally
observed19 property of the QRST integral is that it is
nearly independent of activation sequence. Thus, the QRST integral of
an ECG lead during supraventricular activation of the
ventricles is almost the same as that obtained during ectopic
ventricular activation. This feature is attractive from the
standpoint that it suggests that the QRST integral could be used to
assess repolarization disparity during ventricularly paced
beats or in the presence of ventricular conduction defects.
However, as pointed out by Geselowitz,18 the QRST integral
is actually a function of differences (3D gradients) of action
potential integrals, thus making the index sensitive to differences of
action potential durations as well as amplitude and resting potential
differences. This has tempered enthusiasm for use of the index. Despite
this, its use in assessing increased repolarization disparity in
relation to increased arrhythmia susceptibility has been
demonstrated.20 21
There are a large number of conflicting studies2 6 8 22 23 24 25 that examine the relation between QTd and various cardiac diseases. The underlying assumption in these studies is that QTd is a measure of repolarization dispersion. The fundamental question of the relation between the two, however, has received relatively little attention. Zabel et al26 compared endocardial monophasic action potential duration dispersion with 12-lead QTd and found a correlation of 0.67. Because the study recorded from an average of only 8±3 endocardial sites, overall significance of the findings may be weakened. In a study27 of isolated rabbit ventricles, the correlation between QTd and action potential duration was 0.58. Interestingly, the same study found that the correlation between T-wave area and action potential duration was 0.82. The authors also found that the correlation between time from peak to end of T waves and action potential duration was 0.81, results that compare well with our study
Other studies that seem to further weaken the relation between QTd and repolarization dispersion were done by Kautzner et al28 and Punske et al29 Kautzner et al found that the "parameters that characterize dispersion in the 12-lead ECG are not reproducible, both between subsequent recordings (relative error 25% to 35%) and between observers (relative error 28% to 33%." Punske et al demonstrated that the main factor influencing the time of the end of the T wave was its proximity to the zero potential line, which is highly dependent on activation sequence and hence repolarization sequence.
Study Limitations
A major limitation of our study is that our sample of recovery
times came from the epicardium only. We do not have a good estimate of
how our results would change if we, instead, sampled data throughout
the myocardium. We plan further research with intramural
needles with equally spaced electrodes instead of a sock to obtain a
better sample of recovery times.
Another limitation of this study was the inability to test the sensitivity of the various lead sets to repolarization changes in localized areas. Since the perturbations done were not regional, it was impossible to test sensitivity of each lead set to changes in repolarization as a function of regional changes. Local heating and cooling of the epicardium in future experiments will help to answer these questions.
Finally, we were unable to see if there was a significant difference in the behavior of QTd or RMS T-wave width during atrial stimulation versus ventricular stimulation. One might expect different results during these different activation sequences. Unfortunately, we had insufficient data to allow such an analysis. Although the current data show consistent results during both types of stimulation, in the future it would be beneficial to concentrate on atrial stimulation because of its similarity to clinical conditions.
Future Work
We believe that further information, such as activation
dispersion, may also be available from the width of the RMS curve. By
examining the QRS portion of the RMS curve and the histogram of
activation times in Figure 5
, one can see that the dispersion of
activation times is probably reflected in the QRS width, just as T-wave
width reflects Rd. Similarly, mean activation and recovery times should
be available by computing the mean time of the QRS and T waves of the
RMS curves. We have preliminary data that support these hypotheses, but
the distribution of data from the experiments in this study are not
varied enough to confirm them.
Significance
It is clear that the disparity of repolarization plays an
important role in arrhythmogenesis. However, the use of QTd as a
clinical measure of repolarization dispersion must be called into
question, not only from the results presented here but also
from the conflicting results in clinical studies. Therefore, a reliable
noninvasive measure of repolarization dispersion is needed to assess
patient risk. The RMS curve may not only provide information about Rd
but also other activation and repolarization
parameters.
| Acknowledgments |
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Received December 21, 1999; revision received March 6, 2000; accepted March 16, 2000.
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