Assessment of left ventricular hypertrophy by ECG and VCG in patients with inferior and posterior myocardial infarction. A comparison with echocardiographic data.

Electrocardiographic (ECG) and vectorcardiographic (VCG) QRS voltage criteria have been analyzed in 26 patients with inferior and 17 with posterior myocardial infarction (MI) in comparison with left ventricular (LV) mass and global and regional wall motion as assessed by M-mode and two-dimensional (2D) echocardiography. Transverse plane QRS maximal vector correlated significantly with LV mass in patients with both inferior and posterior MI (r = 0.65 and 0.87, respectively, p less than 0.01). A transverse plane QRS maximal vector greater than 1.5 mV correctly recognized 12 of 15 (80%) and 9 of 12 (75%) patients with respectively inferior and posterior MI and LV mass greater than 221 gm. Of the ECG measurements, S V1-2 + R V5-6 correlated moderately with LV mass in patients with inferior MI (r = 0.47), and R V1-2 + R V5-6 correlated moderately with LV mass in those with posterior MI (r = 0.67). ECG and VCG QRS voltage data did not correlate with global and regional LV function as assessed by M-mode and 2D echocardiography. We conclude that: ECG and VCG QRS voltage parameters can be utilized for assessing non-invasively LV enlargement in patients with postero-inferior MI; ECG and VCG QRS voltage parameters should be utilized with caution for analyzing LV function or MI size in postero-inferior MI.