This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Altunkeser, B. B. Articles by Karabag, T. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Altunkeser, B. B. Articles by Karabag, T. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Can P Wave Parameters Obtained from 12-Lead Surface Electrocardiogram be a Predictor for Atrial Fibrillation in Patients Who Have Structural Heart Disease?

Kurtulu Özdemir, MD

Hasan Gök, MD

Ahmet Temizhan, MD

Mehmet Tokaç, MD

Turgut Karabag, MD

This study was planned to investigate the parameters detecting risk of developing atrial fibril lation (AF) in patients with sinus rhythm with structural heart disease. Forty-five patients with AF and 37 patients without AF but with structural heart disease (Group I) were included in this study. Thirty-eight patients (Group II) had successfully undergone medically or electri cally cardioversion after transesophageal echocardiography. The restoration of sinus rhythm could not be achieved in 7 patients who were excluded from this study. After providing sinus rhythm, amiodarone was given orally to the patients to prevent recurrences. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was calculated and left atrial diameter (LAD) was measured by echocardiography in group I and in group II after cardioversion. A 12-lead electrocardiography (ECG) was simultaneously obtained from all the patients. In these ECG recordings, maximum P wave duration (P max), minimum P wave duration (P min), and P wave dispersion (P disper sion) were calculated. P dispersion was expressed as "P max-P min." Also, the highest P wave voltage is expressed as P amplitude maximum (P amp max), the lowest P wave as P amplitude minimum (P amp min), and P amplitude dispersion (P amp dispersion) was calculated as the difference of both. In univariate analysis, P max, P dispersion, P amp max, P amp dispersion, LAD, LVEF, and old age were significant predictors of chronic AF (p < 0.001, p < 0.01, p < 0.01, p < 0.01, p = 0.003, p = 0.02, and p = 0.01, respectively). However, in multivariate analysis, P max and LAD were independent predictors of chronic AF in patients with structural heart disease (r = 0.39, p < 0.05; r = 0.34; p < 0.05, respectively). In conclusion, in estimating the risk of devel oping chronic AF, P max and LAD are predictive parameters in patients with sinus rhythm with structural heart disease.

Angiology, Vol. 54, No. 4, 475-479 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/000331970305400412


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?