BACKGROUND Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) gene polymorphism is associated with high renin-angiotensin system causing myocardial fibrosis and ventricular repolarization abnormality. Based on these findings, this study was designed to determine the association between ACE gene insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism and QT dispersion after acute myocardial infarction (MI). OBJECTIVE AND METH...

OBJECTIVE Studies have shown that therapy with beta-blockers reduces mortality in patients with heart failure. However, there are no studies describing the effects of propranolol on the QT dispersion in this population. The objective of this study was to assess the electrophysiological profile, mainly QT dispersion, of patients with heart failure regularly using propranolol. METHODS Fifteen p...

Sudden cardiac death is common in patients on hemodialysis, and may occur in the immediate postdialysis period, when ventricular premature complexes are common. Elevated QT dispersion (Maximum - Minimum QT interval on standard 12-lead electrocardiogram) is associated with increased risk of ventricular arrhythmias following myocardial infarction, but has not previously been assessed in patients ...

BACKGROUND Myocardial ischemia is one of several causes of prolonged QT dispersion. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect that percutaneous coronary intervention has on the depolarization and repolarization parameters of surface electrocardiography in patients with chronic stable angina. METHODS We assessed the effects of full revascularization in patients with chronic stable angin...

OBJECTIVE Breath holding spells (BHS) are common involuntary reflexes in infancy and early childhood. Differential diagnosis should embrace Long QT Syndrome (LQTS) and paroxysmal abnormalities of rhythm. The aim of this study was to compare QT dispersion (QTd) in children with breath holding spells and normal controls. MATERIALS & METHODS QT dispersion and Corrected QT(QTc) dispersion were me...

BACKGROUND QT dispersion is a potential prognostic marker of tachyarrhythmic events and death, but it is unclear whether this applies to patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). METHODS AND RESULTS Of the 1518 patients with advanced CHF and left ventricular dysfunction enrolled in the Danish Investigations of Arrhythmia and Mortality on Dofetilide-CHF (Diamond-CHF) study, a baseline ECG ...

BACKGROUND Several drugs can cause prolonged QT interval, as well as prolonged QT dispersion (QTd) in electrocardiographic (EKG) recordings. QTd may be a potentially sensitive marker of increased risk of cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. Metformin is an effective antihyperglycemic agent used in the treatment of diabetes. However, studies have correlated dose-dependent effects of met...

The article entitled "The acute effect of trastuzumab infusion on ECG parameters in metastatic breast cancer patients" written by Yavas et al. and published in one of the 2007 issues of your journal was quite interesting [1]. We consider that this article is important and interesting as it studies the adverse effects profile of targeted molecules. Therefore, we also wanted to emphasise some poi...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE The blocking of aldosterone or angiotensin II receptors improves mortality in patients with chronic heart failure. We explored whether combining losartan and spironolactone would have any added benefit on the known surrogate of mortality by using heart rate variability (HRV) and QT dispersion as our endpoints. METHODS We designed a three-phase, consecutive, randomised...