Vectorcardiographic and hemodynamic correlation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Vectorcardiograms in 34 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 30 normal people were analyzed with the aim of developing sensitive criteria for the detection of pulmonary artery hypertension. The pulmonary artery pressure was correlated with the known vectorcardiographic measurements of the area of the QRS loop and with two new linear measurements which reflect the QRS loop displacement of the right ventricular hypertrophy. The proposed linear vector-cardiographic and the QRS loop area criteria provided a sensitive means for the noninvasive approximate estimation of mean pulmonary artery pressure in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Their sensitivity and specificity were proved to be considerable.