Quantitative VCG analysis in old myocardial infarction diagnosis

'Quantitative' VCG method for diagnosis of old myocardial infarction have been evaluated with a pilot study, in 90 patients: 45 with old myocardial infarction (Group-A), and 45 control group (Group-B). Patients with 'non Q' infarction were included. A reduction of the values of these parameters: ΣA (sum of the areas projected on the three orthogonal planes (XYZ) by the spatial QRS loop), Σ1/2A (sum of the half-areas), ΣMV (sum of the maximum vectors of the QRS on the three orthogonal planes), ΣMV1/2A (sum of the vectors of the half-areas), witch show 'total' electrical activity, were considered as possible markers of myocardial necrosis. Difference between the two groups were tested for statistical significance using Student's t-test. Sensitivity and specificy of this method were also evalueted. A significantly difference in the parameters considered, was found between the two groups. - ΣA: Group-A (mean 0.98±0.1 cm2); Group-B (mean 1.81 ± 0.13 cm2); t = 4.6349; p0.91 cm2 to the ΣA parameter. The greatest sensitivity of the test (62.2%) was obtained assigning a threshold value of