ECG-based estimation of dispersion of APD restitution as a tool to stratify sotalol-induced arrhythmic risk

Quantification of Ventricular Repolarization Variation for Sudden Cardiac Death Risk Stratification in Atrial Fibrillation

OBJECTIVE

Atrial fibrillation (AF) rhythm gives rise to an irregular response in ventricular activity, preventing the use of standard ECG-derived risk markers based on ventricular repolarization heterogeneity under this particular condition. In this study, we proposed new indices to quantify repolarization variations in AF patients, assessing their stratification performance in a chronic heart failure population with AF.

METHODS

We developed a method based on a selective bin averaging technique. Consecutive beats preceded by a similar RR interval were selected, from which the average variation within the ST-T complex for each RR range was computed. We proposed two sets of indices: 1) the 2-beat index of ventricular repolarization variation, ( I_V2), computed from pairs of stable consecutive beats; and 2) the 3-beat indices of ventricular repolarization variation, computed in triplets of stable consecutive beats ( I_V3).

RESULTS

These indices showed a significant association with sudden cardiac death (SCD) outcome in the study population. In addition, risk assessment based on the combination of the proposed indices improved stratification performance compared to their individual potential.

CONCLUSION

Patients with enhanced ventricular repolarization variation computed in terms of the proposed indices were successfully associated to a higher SCD incidence in our study population, evidencing their prognostic value.

SIGNIFICANCE

using a simple ambulatory ECG recording, it is possible to stratify AF patients at risk of SCD, which may help cardiologists in adopting most effective therapeutic strategies, with a positive impact in both the patient and healthcare systems.

Clinical applications of QT/RR hysteresis assessment: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

QT/RR hysteresis (QT-hys) is an index of the time accommodation of ventricular repolarization to heart rate changes. This report comprehensively reviews studies addressing QT-hys as a biomarker of medical conditions.

METHODS

This is a secondary analysis of data from a recent systematic review pertaining to methods of assessment of QT-hys. Articles included in the former review were filtered in order to select original articles investigating the association of QT-hys with medical conditions in humans.

RESULTS

Nineteen articles fulfilled our inclusion criteria. Given the heterogeneity of the methods and investigated conditions, no pooled analysis of data could be implemented. QT-hys was mostly studied as a risk marker of severe arrhythmias, as a predictor of the long QT syndrome (LQTS) phenotypes and genotypes and as a marker of exercise-induced ischemia. An increased QT-hys appears to be implicated in arrhythmogenesis, although the evidence in this regard relies on few human studies. An augmented QT-hys was reported in the LQTS, predominantly in the LQT2 genotype, but conflicting results were obtained between studies using different methods of assessment. In addition, QT-hys appears to be a useful marker of stress-induced myocardial ischemia in patients suspected of coronary artery disease.

CONCLUSIONS

QT-hys evaluation has potential clinical utility in at least some clinical conditions. Further studies of the clinical validity of QT-hys assessment are warranted, particularly condition specific studies based on QT-hys evaluation methods that provide separate estimates of QT-hys and QT/RR dependency.

Human ventricular activation sequence and the simulation of the electrocardiographic QRS complex and its variability in healthy and intraventricular block conditions

Aims

To investigate how variability in activation sequence and passive conduction properties translates into clinical variability in QRS biomarkers, and gain novel physiological knowledge on the information contained in the human QRS complex.

Methods and results

Multiscale bidomain simulations using a detailed heart-torso human anatomical model are performed to investigate the impact of activation sequence characteristics on clinical QRS biomarkers. Activation sequences are built and validated against experimentally-derived ex vivo and in vivo human activation data. R-peak amplitude exhibits the largest variability in terms of QRS morphology, due to its simultaneous modulation by activation sequence speed, myocardial intracellular and extracellular conductivities, and propagation through the human torso. QRS width, however, is regulated by endocardial activation speed and intracellular myocardial conductivities, whereas QR intervals are only affected by the endocardial activation profile. Variability in the apico-basal location of activation sites on the anterior and posterior left ventricular wall is associated with S-wave progression in limb and precordial leads, respectively, and occasional notched QRS complexes in precordial derivations. Variability in the number of early activation sites successfully reproduces pathological abnormalities of the human conduction system in the QRS complex.

Conclusion

Variability in activation sequence and passive conduction properties captures and explains a large part of the clinical variability observed in the human QRS complex. Our physiological insights allow for a deeper interpretation of human QRS biomarkers in terms of QRS morphology and location of early endocardial activation sites. This might be used to attain a better patient-specific knowledge of activation sequence from routine body-surface electrocardiograms.

Categorization and theoretical comparison of quantitative methods for assessing QT/RR hysteresis

BACKGROUND

In the human electrocardiogram, there is a lag of adaptation of the QT interval to heart rate changes, usually termed QT/RR hysteresis (QT-hys). Subject-specific quantifiers of QT-hys have been proposed as potential biomarkers, but there is no consensus on the choice of the quantifier.

METHODS

A comprehensive literature search was conducted to identify original articles reporting quantifiers of repolarization hysteresis from the surface ECG in humans.

RESULTS

Sixty articles fulfilled our inclusion criteria. Reported biomarkers were grouped under four categories. A simple mathematical model of QT/RR loop was used to illustrate differences between the methods. Category I quantifiers use direct measurement of QT time course of adaptation. They are limited to conditions where RR intervals are under strict control. Category IIa and IIb quantifiers compare QT responses during consecutive heart rate acceleration and deceleration. They are relevant when a QT/RR loop is observed, typically during exercise and recovery, but are not robust to protocol variations. Category III quantifiers evaluate the optimum RR memory in dynamic QT/RR relationship modeling. They estimate an intrinsic memory parameter independent from the nature of RR changes, but their reliability remains to be confirmed when multiple memory parameters are estimated. Promising approaches include the differentiation of short-term and long-term memory and adaptive estimation of memory parameters.

CONCLUSION

Model-based approaches to QT-hys assessment appear to be the most versatile, as they allow separate quantification of QT/RR dependency and QT-hys, and can be applied to a wide range of experimental settings.

Beat-to-beat ECG restitution: A review and proposal for a new biomarker to assess cardiac stress and ventricular tachyarrhythmia vulnerability

BACKGROUND

Cardiac restitution is the ability of the heart to recover from one beat to the next. Ventricular arrhythmia vulnerability can occur when the heart does not properly adjust to sudden changes in rate or in hemodynamics leading to excessive temporal and/or spatial heterogeneity in conduction or repolarization. Restitution has historically been used to study, by invasive means, the dynamics of the relationship between action potential duration (APD) and diastolic interval (DI) in sedated subjects using various pacing protocols. Even though the analogous measures of APD and DI can be obtained using the surface ECG to acquire the respective QT and TQ intervals for ECG restitution, this methodology has not been widely adopted for a number of reasons.

METHODS

Recent development of more advanced software algorithms enables ECG intervals to be measured accurately, on a continuous beat-to-beat basis, in an automated manner, and under highly dynamic conditions (i.e., ambulatory or exercise) providing information beyond that available in the typical resting state.

RESULTS

Current breakthroughs in ECG technology will allow ECG restitution measures to become a practical approach for providing quantitative measures of the risks for ventricular arrhythmias as well as cardiac stress in general.

CONCLUSIONS

In addition to a review of the underlying principles and caveats of ECG restitution, a new approach toward an advancement of more integrated restitution biomarkers is proposed.