The body surface QRST isointegral maps in infants with right ventricular overload

Electrocardiographic criteria for right ventricular (RV) hypertrophy in infants generally exhibit low sensitivity in terms of diagnostic accuracy. We studied the QRST isointegral map (QRST-Imap) of body surface potential distribution for the diagnosis of RV overload in patients less than 2 years old. Patients with atrial septal defect (ASD), pulmonary stenosis (PS) and tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) were examined (RV overload group) and the findings of their QRST-Imaps were compared to those of age-matched healthy infants (NOR). QRST-Imaps in RV overload showed abnormal findings, with two maxima or a rightward shift of the maximum with increased amplitude, in contrast to one maximum at the left anterior chest with a single dipole pattern in the NOR group. ASD patients had two maxima with a decreased integral value between them. In PS, two maxima were also observed, with increased integral values of the right maximum as the RV systolic pressure was elevated. TOF patients showed a single maximum shifted to the anterior median line with increased amplitude. These results indicate that the findings of QRST-Imaps are of value in detecting the presence and pattern of RV overload in infants.