Comparison and combination of late potentials and spectral turbulence analysis to predict arrhythmic events after myocardial infarction in the Post-Infarction Late Potential (PILP) Study.

Ventricular late potentials detected at the end of the QRS complex by the signal-averaged ECG have been shown to predict arrhythmic events after acute myocardial infarction. Spectral turbulence analysis is a novel technique for detecting abnormalities of cardiac electric activation inside the QRS complex. The purpose of this study was to combine these two analysis methods in order to increase the predictive power of the signal-averaged ECG in post-infarction patients. The study comprised a prospective series of 778 males under 66 years of age who survived the acute phase of myocardial infarction. Signal-averaged ECG recordings were performed before hospital discharge 2 to 3 weeks after infarction. The original Simson method was used for recording and analysing the time-domain signal-averaged ECG. Spectral turbulence analysis was performed using the same averaged vector magnitude QRS complexes (Del Mar Avionics). During the follow-up period of 6 months, 33 patients (4.2%) had an arrhythmic event (sustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardia in 13 cases, ventricular fibrillation in eight cases and sudden cardiac death in 12 cases). The predictive power of late potentials in the time domain, spectral turbulence analysis and their combinations were tested together with clinical variables using the Cox regression method.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)