Abstract

DE MICHELI, Alfredo; ARANDA, Alberto  and  MEDRANO, Gustavo A. Electrocardiographs features of right ventricular hypertrophy in chronic cor pulmonale. Arch. Cardiol. Méx. [online]. 2006, vol.76, n.1, pp.69-74. ISSN 1665-1731.

The electrophysiological criteria for diagnosing right ventricular hypertrophy, characteristic of chronic cor pulmonale, are described. Right ventricular hypertrophy due to a sustained systolic overload can be global or regional. In the first situation, as for example, an idiopathic pulmonary hypertension, the magnitude and manifestation of all the main vectors resulting from the depolarization of this ventricle are increased: IIs (septal), IIr (parietal), and IIIr (basal). When the right ventricular hypertrophy is of the segmental (regional) type, as for example, that due to a chronic bronchial obstruction, the magnitude and manifestation of only some right vectors are increased. In this condition, only the magnitude of the right basal vector (IIIr) is augmented. In the presence of subepicardial or transmural ischemia of the right ventricle, negative T waves of primary type are recorded in right precordial and transitional leads, where the Q-T_c interval is prolonged in the absence of digitalis effect. Two demonstrative examples of the correlations existing between the electrocardiographic and anatomical findings in global and regional hypertrophies, respectively, of the right ventricle are presented.

Keywords : Chronic cor pulmonale; Right ventricular global hypertrophy; Right ventricular segmental hypertrophy.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )