Reliability of echocardiography in the diagnosis of right ventricular hypertrophy

The right ventricular (RV) wall thickness and dimension were measured by the technique of echocardiography in 62 patients. Thirty-six of these patients died, and the RV wall thickness was measured at necropsy for comparison with the echocardiographic measurements. The necropsy RV wall thickness measured 3.3 ± 0.6 mm in patients without right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) and 5.9 ± 0.9 mm in patients with RVH (P<.01). The echocardiographic measurements of the diastolic RV wall thickness correlated well with the necropsy measurements of the RV wall thickness (r=.83). The sensitivity and specificity of the echocardiographic criteria in detecting RVH was superior to the electrocardiographic (ECG) criteria. Furthermore, the echocardiographic technique was useful in evaluating RVH in 18 patients with an abnormal ECG due to right or left bundle branch block or myocardial infarction. We conclude that echocardiography is reliable in diagnosing RVH.