Analysis of Signal-averaged ECG Parameters in Patients with Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy According to the Presence of Significant Ventricular Arrhythmia

Background: While the value of the signal-averaged ECG (SAECG) in the diagnosis of in arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) has been proven, the prognostic significance of SAECG parameters showed diverse results. This study was designed to assess the ability of SAECG parameters in predicting significant spontaneous ventricular arrhythmias (VA) in patients with ARVC. Subjects and Methods: The patient population consisted of 37 ARVC patients who met Task Force Criteria for ARVC. Two patients with noise level on SAECG .0.3 ?YV and another patient with QRS duration .120 msec were excluded from further study. Finally 34 patients (17 females, 42?b15 years old) were included. SAECG parameters between patients without (Group 1) and with (Group 2) significant VA were compared. Significant VA was defined as PVC .1,000/day, ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF). A high resolution ECG was performed with bi-directional Butterworth filters (40 –250 . Hz). Routine ECG, Holter monitoring, and exercise test revealed VT in 12, PVC .1000/day in 8, VF in 1 and no significant VA in 13. Late potential was positive in 22 (65%). Results: All SAECG parameters including filtered QRS duration, LAS40 and RMS40 were not different between two groups. Conclusion: Significant VA and SAECG parameters showed no relation.