Significance of T wave abnormality in hypertension studied by spatial velocity electrocardiogram and vectorcardiogram.

The ST-T wave abnormality in hypertension has been considered to be an indicator of poor prognosis, but its precise pathophysiological significance remains unclear. The present study was aimed to correlate the electrocardiographic (ECG) change in T wave and left ventricular characteristics studied by echocardiogram. The T wave abnormality in the ECG represented hypertrophy of the left ventricle or abnormality of systolic function, but it was difficult to differentiate either of them by conventional ECG. It was shown in this study that the anterior displacement of the vectorcardiographic T loop was related to the ventricular hypertrophy and that the abnormal shape or inscription of the T loop was more closely related to the ventricular dysfunction rather than hypertrophy. These results suggested that the vectorcardiogram and spatial velocity electrocardiogram were useful for analysis of the T wave abnormality and add important information in addition to the conventional electrocardiogram.