Identification of Patients with Myocardial Infarction: Vectorcardiographic and Electrocardiographic Analysis

Background: The largest morbidity and mortality group worldwide continues to be that suffering Myocardial Infarction (MI). The use of vectorcardiography (VCG) and electrocardiography (ECG) has improved the diagnosis and characterization of this cardiac condition. Objectives: Herein, we applied a novel ECG-VCG combination technique to identifying 95 patients with MI and to differentiating them from 52 healthy reference subjects. Subsequently, and with a similar method, the location of the infarcted area permitted patient classification. Methods: We analyzed five depolarization and four repolarization indexes, say: a) volume; b) planar area; c) QRS loop perimeter; d) QRS vector difference; e – g) Area under the QRS complex, ST segment and T-wave in the (X, Y, Z) leads; h) ST-T Vector Magnitude Difference; i) T-wave Vector Magnitude Difference; and j) the spatial angle between the QRS complex and the T-wave. For classification, patients were divided into two groups according to the infarcted area, that is, anterior or inferior sectors (MI-ant and MI-inf, respectively). Results: Our results indicate that several ECG and VCG parameters show significant differences (p-value