[Repolarization anomalies in postoperative ECG after aorto-coronary bypass]

The authors studied 164 patients admitted in 1994 to their rehabilitation centre less than 5 weeks after a coronary artery bypass graft. They performed an ECG on admission and noted the presence and localization of repolarization abnormalities such as a flat or negative T wave as well as the presence of QRS abnormalities, such as conduction disorders or sequelae of necrosis. The abnormalities were compared with the presence and severity of the pericardial reaction on ultrasonography and in the revascularized territories. Two-thirds of patients presented repolarization abnormalities in the anteroseptoapical (ASA) territory, regardless of the intensity of the pericardial reaction. 88% of patients with no QRS abnormalities (75 patients), had an ASA repolarization abnormality. 80% of patients presenting sequelae of isolated inferior necrosis had normal ASA repolarization. The intensity of the pericardial reaction does not determine the presence of postoperative repolarization abnormalities, but rather "myocardial" abnormalities and especially sequelae of inferior necrosis which "normalize" ASA repolarization in 80% of cases, which raises a doubt about the mechanism of these repolarization abnormalities.