Muhammad Saleem Akhtar, Ahmed Noeman, Sandeela Sattar.
Sensitivity of electrocardiography in detecting left ventricular hypertrophy in patients with increased left ventricular mass on echocardiography.
J Cardiovascular Dis Jan ;10(4):105-9.

Objective: Objective: To study the sensitivity of electrocardiography (ECG) in detecting left ventricular hypertrophy Objective: in patients having increased left ventricular mass on echocardiography. Methods: Methods: The study was conducted at the Echocardiography department of Punjab Institute of Methods: Cardiology Lahore from May 2011 to January 2012. One hundred patients with suspicion of left ventricular hypertrophy on clinical grounds were subjected to echocardiography for calculation of left ventricular mass. Electrocardiographic criteria for left ventricular hypertrophy were evaluated using increased left ventricular mass on echocardiography as gold standard. Demographic information and coronary risk factors, were also recorded for all patients. Results: Results: Mean age of the study population (100 patients) was 57.31± 10.87 and majority of the Results: patients were in age group 51-60. Female to male ratio was 1.5:1. Most of the patients were hypertensive (84%): 51% had hypertension alone and 33% had ischemic heart disease along with hypertension. Mean body mass index of the patients was 29.00±4.01 and range was 28-33 for majority of the patients. Mean LV mass was 265.31±78.08 and majority of patients had LV mass between 151-351gm. Fifty eight patients had increased left ventricular mass on echocardiography while 42 had normal values. Positive Cornell criteria in ECG were noted in 28 patients; 22 were true positive and 6 were false positive. Overall sensitivity and specificity of Cornell criteria was 38% and 86% respectively, with a positive predictive value of 79% and negative predictive values of 50%. Conclusion: Conclusion: Electrocardiography has low sensitivity in detection of left ventricular hypertrophy and Conclusion: hence not a recommended tool to rule out left ventricular hypertrophy. Key words: Electrocardiography, Echocardiography, Left ventricular Hypertrophy, Left ventricular mass

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