The role of late potentials in the assessment of myocardial degeneration in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

In order to determine whether or not late potentials indicate either a degree of myocardial fibrosis or necrosis, the relationship between late potentials and thallium-201 myocardial perfusion images was studied in 13 patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. Late potentials were defined as low-amplitude waveforms having duration of over 20 msec after the end of the QRS complex using a high-resolution ECG (Marquette electronics, MAC 1). In the T1-201 myocardial perfusion image, the segmental perfusion state was assessed by use of a parameter called the uptake index (= normalized sector counts/maximal normalized sector counts) of each of 6 different segments. Segments which showed an uptake index of -2SD less than the normal value were judged to be abnormal. Late potentials were detected in 8 (61.5%) of the 13 patients. All of the patients showing late potentials also had ventricular tachycardia. Among the patients showing no late potential, ventricular tachycardia was observed in only one patient. Seven of the 8 patients showing late potentials and 3 of 5 patients not showing late potentials, however, had both a higher degree and a greater extent of abnormal perfusion images than the patients not showing late potentials. Therefore, late potentials may reflect a degree of myocardial fibrosis or necrosis in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy, those showing abnormal thallium images are apt to show late potentials, and these patients seem to be also at a high risk of suffering from ventricular tachycardia.