<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><bold>Introduction</bold>. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with higher incidence of supraventricular arrhythmias. Atrial late potentials (ALP) detected by P-wave signal-averaged electrocardiography (SAECG) could be useful in detecting the patients at risk for supraventricular arrhythmias. Our objective was to assess the role of P-wave SAECG and ALP detection for arrhythmic risk evaluation of the patients with exacerbated COPD.<bold>Methods</bold>. We prospectively included 45 patients with exacerbation of COPD and 58 age-matched patients with no history of pulmonary disease in a control group. We performed pulmonary function tests, arterial blood gases, echocardiography, 24-hour Holter monitoring and P-wave SAECG. We measured filtered P-wave duration (FPD), the root mean square (RMS) voltages in the last 40, 30 and 20 ms of the filtered P-wave (RMS 40, RMS 30 and RMS 20), the root mean square voltage of the filtered P-wave potentials (RMS-p), and the integral of the potentials during the filtered P-wave (Integral-p). ALP was defined as FPD > 132 ms and RMS 20 &lt; 2.3 µV.<bold>Results</bold>. Isolated atrial premature beats (APB) and supraventricular tachycardias (SVT) were more frequent in the COPD group. There were no significant differences between groups regarding the P wave SAECG parameters. In the COPD group none of the supraventricular arrhythmias was correlated with ALP or any P-wave SAECG parameters.<bold>Conclusions</bold>. The patients with acute exacerbation of COPD but no apparent cardiac disease have a higher incidence of supraventricular arrhythmias. P-wave SAECG analysis and ALP detection have little value in the arrhythmic risk evaluation of these patients.</abstract>

Introduction. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with higher incidence of supraventricular arrhythmias. Atrial late potentials (ALP) detected by P-wave signal-averaged electrocardiography (SAECG) could be useful in detecting the patients at risk for supraventricular arrhythmias. Our objective was to assess the role of P-wave SAECG and ALP detection for arrhythmic risk evaluation of the patients with exacerbated COPD.Methods. We prospectively included 45 patients with exacerbation of COPD and 58 age-matched patients with no history of pulmonary disease in a control group. We performed pulmonary function tests, arterial blood gases, echocardiography, 24-hour Holter monitoring and P-wave SAECG. We measured filtered P-wave duration (FPD), the root mean square (RMS) voltages in the last 40, 30 and 20 ms of the filtered P-wave (RMS 40, RMS 30 and RMS 20), the root mean square voltage of the filtered P-wave potentials (RMS-p), and the integral of the potentials during the filtered P-wave (Integral-p). ALP was defined as FPD > 132 ms and RMS 20 < 2.3 µV.Results. Isolated atrial premature beats (APB) and supraventricular tachycardias (SVT) were more frequent in the COPD group. There were no significant differences between groups regarding the P wave SAECG parameters. In the COPD group none of the supraventricular arrhythmias was correlated with ALP or any P-wave SAECG parameters.Conclusions. The patients with acute exacerbation of COPD but no apparent cardiac disease have a higher incidence of supraventricular arrhythmias. P-wave SAECG analysis and ALP detection have little value in the arrhythmic risk evaluation of these patients.

P Wave Signal-Averaged Electrocardiography in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

“Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 37 Dionisie Lupu, Bucharest, District 1, 020022 Romania

“Colentina” Clinical Hospital,19-21Ştefan cel Mare, Bucharest, District 2, 020125, Romania

Romanian Journal of Internal Medicine

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Introduction. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with higher incidence of supraventricular arrhythmias. Atrial late potentials (ALP)...

P Wave Signal-Averaged Electrocardiography in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Publicado en línea: 10 dic 2015

Páginas: 315 - 320

Recibido: 31 ago 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/rjim-2015-0040

Palabras clave
COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, supraventricular arrhythmias, atrial late potential, signal-averaged electrocardiography

© 2015 C.A. Buzea et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

P Wave Signal-Averaged Electrocardiography in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Publicado en línea: 10 dic 2015

Páginas: 315 - 320

Recibido: 31 ago 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/rjim-2015-0040

Palabras claveCOPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, supraventricular arrhythmias, atrial late potential, signal-averaged electrocardiography

© 2015 C.A. Buzea et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Palabras clave
COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, supraventricular arrhythmias, atrial late potential, signal-averaged electrocardiography