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(Hypertension. 2004;44:175.)
© 2004 American Heart Association, Inc.
Scientific Contributions |
From the British Heart Foundation Cardiac MRI Unit (K.A., T.J., J.R., M.S.) and Heart Research Centre (Clinical) (K.W., A.S.H.), Leeds General Infirmary, Leeds, UK.
Correspondence to Professor Alistair S. Hall, BHF Heart Research Centre, G. Floor, Jubilee Wing Leeds General Infirmary, Great George Street, Leeds LS1 3EX, UK. E-mail cvsash{at}leeds.ac.uk
| Abstract |
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Key Words: hypertrophy remodeling electrocardiography imaging
| Introduction |
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M-mode echocardiography can detect LVH accurately through measurement of left ventricular (LV) wall thickness. Left ventricular mass (LVM) as measured by M-mode echocardiography was used as the reference standard in most of the ECG LVH validation studies.7,913 However, it is neither accurate nor reproducible. It relies on LV wall thickness measurements, a mathematical formula, and geometric assumptions about the shape of the LV for the calculation of a 3D structure. The M-mode LV wall thickness measurements are cubed in the formula, which increases the standard deviations by a factor of 2 to 3 and, as a result, underestimates the prevalence of LVH in hypertensive cohorts.14 Furthermore, M-mode echocardiography consistently overestimates the LVM in the presence of LVH.1517 Finally, the accuracy and the reproducibility of LVM, as measured by M-mode echocardiography, have been shown to be poor compared with direct measurement by 3D cardiac MRI.18 This implies that the ECG criteria have been validated against a variable reference standard.19
During the past decade, cardiac MRI has been established as the gold standard for the estimation of LVM. It provides a spatially defined 3D data set at multiple levels throughout the heart; hence, the measurement of LVM does not require geometric assumptions about the LV. The excellent contrast between blood and myocardial tissue together with the high spatial resolution mean that the endocardial and epicardial contours are easily defined. LVM, as measured by cardiac MRI, has been validated in animal studies20,21 and has been demonstrated to be more accurate and reproducible than M-mode and 2D echocardiography measurements.18,22,23 As a result of the superior accuracy and reproducibility, fewer subjects are needed in research studies using cardiac MRI.24
The aim of our study was to evaluate the Sokolow-Lyon voltage, Cornell sex-specific voltage, Sokolow-Lyon product, and Cornell product criteria against LVM index as measured by cardiac MRI in a large cohort of patients. We sought to establish gender-specific partition values for each criterion.25 We also sought to reevaluate the Romhilt-Estes score for LVH and P wave abnormalities26 against LVM index and to define the mean LVM index for individuals with positive ECG criteria for LVH.
| Methods |
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160 mm Hg, diastolic BP of
100 mm Hg, or both. Patients with a history of valvular heart disease, previous myocardial infarcts, arrhythmias, and left or right bundle branch block were excluded. A total of 60 normal volunteers (30 men and 30 women) were recruited to establish normal ranges for cardiac MRI assessment of LV volumes and mass.27 Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects, and the local ethics committee approved the study.
Imaging Methods
MRI studies were performed on a 1.5-Tesla Philips Intera CV MRI system equipped with Master gradients using a 5-element cardiac phased-array receiver coil and vectorcardiographic ECG synchronization; 10 to 14 slices were acquired during breath hold using a segmented K-space turbo-gradient echo pulse sequence (TR=8.8 ms, TE=5.2 ms, flip angle=35°).
Image analysis was performed off-line using commercially available analysis software (MASS, Medis, Leiden, the Netherlands). LVM was measured at end diastole, which was defined as the first phase in the cine sequence for each slice. For all data sets, one experienced observer manually traced the endocardial and epicardial contours of the LV. Two papillary muscles were outlined separately, excluded from the volume, and included in the mass (Figure). LVM was calculated as LVM=1.05x(epicardial volumeendocardial volume).
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ECG
A standard 12-lead ECG was recorded at 25 mm/s and 1 mV/cm standardization, with a MAC 5000 resting ECG system (GE Medical Systems), on patients and volunteers on the same day as the MRI scanning. One observer, who was blinded to the MRI data, analyzed 4 ECG criteria: Sokolow-Lyon voltage,8 Cornell sex-specific voltage,28 Cornell product, and Sokolow-Lyon product.6 LVH was defined as a Sokolow-Lyon voltage amplitude of (SV1+RV5 or RV6)
35 mV, a Cornell voltage of (RaVL+SV3)
28 mV for men and
20 mV for women, and a Cornell product of [(RaVL+SV3)xQRS duration] >2440 mV·ms. There is no recognized partition value for the Sokolow-Lyon product [(SV1+RV5 or RV6)xQRS duration]. For the patient group, the Romhilt-Estes score was calculated, using scores of 5 and 4 to diagnose LVH, and the P wave was defined as abnormal if the terminal negativity of the P wave in V1 was 1 mm or more.26
Statistical Methods
The results were analyzed using STATA software (version 8, STATA Corporation). Means and SD were calculated for LVM indexed to body surface area (BSA). Elevated LVM index was defined for men and women separately, based on the mean LVM index for normal volunteers plus 2 SD27
The means and SD were calculated for each ECG criterion according to gender and LVH status. The need for gender-specific partition values in patients with and without LVH was evaluated using a 2-way ANOVA. We tested the sensitivity and specificity for the LVH criteria using existing partition values for the Sokolow-Lyon voltage, Cornell voltage, and Cornell product. For the Sokolow-Lyon product criterion, we established a partition value of 2940 mV·ms to give the same specificity as the Cornell product criterion. The results were decomposed to enable examination of the sensitivities and specificities according to gender using a
2 test. We also compared the sensitivities of the 4 criteria at a fixed specificity of 95%. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to compare the performance of the 4 criteria over a range of specificities. We calculated the specificity and sensitivity for the Romhilt-Estes score and for the P wave. We also compared the mean LVM index for the ECG positive versus the ECG negative individuals for each ECG criteria for men and women separately, and used a 2-sample t test to assess whether the means were significantly different for each of the ECG criteria.
| Results |
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Currently, only the Cornell criterion has gender-specific partition values. To examine the need for gender-specific partition values, means and standard deviations were calculated for each ECG criterion according to gender and LVH status based on cardiac MRI (Table 1). A 2-way ANOVA was performed. Within both the "LVH" and "No LVH" categories, males were found to have significantly (P<0.01) higher means than females for all criteria, besides the Cornell product criteria where the females had the significantly higher means.
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We tested the sensitivity and specificity of the 4 criteria using established partition values: Sokolow-Lyon=35 mV; Cornell-gender specific, male=28 mV, female=20 mV; Cornell product=2440 mV·ms; and Sokolow-Lyon product=2940 mV·ms. We retested the sensitivities and specificities according to gender (Table 2). To identify whether there were significant differences between the sexes in specificity and sensitivity, we used a
2 test. The probability values shown in Table 2 for the gender-specific results test the null hypothesis that the proportions are the same in males and females for both specificity and sensitivity (Table 2).
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To make comparisons of sensitivities more meaningful, we compared the sensitivities of the 4 criteria at a fixed specificity of 95% (the most widely used in the literature).6,7,10 The sensitivities as well as the sex-specific partition values are shown in Table 3. The Sokolow-Lyon product criterion had the highest sensitivity for females (26.2%), whereas the Cornell product criteria had good sensitivity for both males and females (25.0% and 23.8%), at this level of specificity. We also compared the overall performance of the 4 ECG criteria by comparing the areas under the ROC curves. We only considered specificities above 80% because these represent the clinically relevant range. The ROC curves showed the Sokolow-Lyon product criterion to be superior in females, whereas the Cornell and the Cornell product criteria were superior for males at the higher specificities (Figure I, available in an online supplement available at http://www.hypertensionaha.org). However, pair-wise tests comparing the area under the ROC curve for each criterion for each sex separately did not show any significant differences between any of the 4 criteria.
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The sensitivity of the Romhilt-Estes score on the basis of a score of 5 was 19.8% with a specificity of 95.2%. Using the lower score of 4, the sensitivity improved to 50.9% but the specificity dropped to 73.8%. Similarly, we assessed the sensitivity of an abnormal P wave at detecting LVH and found it to be 49.1% with a specificity of 54.2%.
We calculated the mean LVM index for the ECG positive versus the ECG negative individuals for each ECG criteria for men and women separately (Figure II available online). A 2-sample t test comparing the ECG positive and the ECG negative individuals at the 5% level, after adjusting for multiple testing, demonstrated a significant difference between the means for the Sokolow-Lyon voltage and the Sokolow-Lyon product criteria in females and for the Cornell voltage criteria in males. There was a significant difference between the means for the Cornell product criteria in both males and females.
The mean LVM index for normal males was 77.8±9.1 g/m2 and for normal females was 61.5±7.5g/m2.27 The mean LVM index values for subjects with LVH on ECG, based on the 4 ECG criteria, were: males, Sokolow-Lyon=106.6 g/m2, Sokolow-Lyon product=103.9 g/m2, Cornell=115.5 g/m2, Cornell product=116.0 g/m2; females, Sokolow-Lyon=83.4 g/m2, Sokolow-Lyon product=84.7 g/m2, Cornell=80.7 g/m2, Cornell product=84.6 g/m2. Comparing the mean LVM index values for subjects who were ECG LVH positive to the normal volunteers shows that in men the Cornell and Cornell product criteria detect subjects with LVM index 4 SD above normal, whereas in women, Sokolow-Lyon, Sokolow-Lyon product, and Cornell product criteria detect subjects with LVM index 3 SD above normal.
| Discussion |
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At a fixed specificity of 95% the Sokolow-Lyon product criterion had the highest sensitivity in females but was relatively insensitive for males whereas the Cornell product criterion had good sensitivity for both males and females (Table 3). The ROC curves confirmed the Sokolow-Lyon product criterion to be superior in females (Figure I). In the LIFE study, the investigators used the Sokolow-Lyon voltage criterion with a partition value of 38 mV for both males and females, which would have resulted in lower sensitivity in women. Our results suggest a partition value for the Sokolow-Lyon voltage criterion of 34 mV for females. Furthermore, our results suggest that a gender-specific Sokolow-Lyon product criterion would have higher sensitivity in females and, hence, can enhance the identification and recruitment of eligible patients in such studies. We recommend the use of gender-specific partition values for ECG LVH criteria (Table 3).
Our patients were mostly receiving antihypertensive therapies, including both patients with mild and moderate to severe hypertension. We included patients with angina, but excluded patients with myocardial infarcts and valvular heart disease. Hence, our results cannot be extrapolated to patients with LVH secondary to valvular heart disease nor patients with LV remodeling following myocardial infarcts. The sensitivity of the ECG LVH criteria will vary depending on the cohort being studied. Molloy et al demonstrated sensitivity of 50% (at a level of specificity of 95%) for the Cornell product criterion6 compared with our equivalent value of 24.5%. They measured LVM at autopsy in cases with differing cardiac pathology, compared with our cohort of patients with treated hypertension. Moreover, the sensitivity of the ECG LVH criteria will vary depending on the severity of hypertension and prevalence of LVH in the cohort being studied. Okin et al demonstrated higher sensitivities for ECG LVH criteria in a subgroup of patients with LVM index higher than the median value (>152.8 g/m2) for the cohort that they studied.7 Furthermore, Okin et al found both Sokolow-Lyon voltage and Sokolow-Lyon product criteria to have higher sensitivities (43% and 45%) than Cornell voltage and Cornell product criteria (28% and 37%) in a cohort of 389 subjects, most with hypertension, but also included 69 patients with regurgitant valvular heart disease. M-mode echocardiography was used to measure LVM, and the results were expressed for the whole cohort and not according to gender.
The comparison of the mean LVM index between the ECG positive and ECG negative individuals for each of the criteria illustrates that the ECG criteria of LVH detect a group of patients with hypertension that have a significantly elevated LVM index. This is clinically relevant as there is a continuous relationship between LVM index and cardiovascular risk. Schillaci et al followed-up a large cohort of subjects (n=1925) with essential hypertension for 4 years. LVM was measured using M-mode echocardiography, and the prevalence of elevated LVM in the cohort was 30.5%. The cohort was divided into 5 gender-specific quintiles of progressively higher LVM index. The relative risk of a cardiovascular event increased progressively with LVM index, even after adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors, including 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure.29 Furthermore, the LIFE study, where there was a high prevalence of ECG LVH positive patients, confirmed that LVH regression results in improved outcomes, independent of BP reduction.30 Our results suggest that the ECG LVH positive patients in the LIFE study are likely to have had significantly elevated LVM.
Perspectives
ECG criteria are known to have high specificity for detecting LVH.3,4 Furthermore, we have shown that the presence of ECG criteria of LVH detects individuals who have substantially elevated LVM index and an assumed increased cardiovascular risk.29 The LIFE study provided evidence of the prognostic benefit of LVM regression.5,30 However, demonstration of LVM regression using ECG criteria of LVH in the LIFE study was only possible because it was a very large cohort. Demonstration of LVM regression using echocardiographic methods also requires relatively large cohorts of patients because of the high observer and interstudy variability.18,2224 Cardiac MRI has become the technique of choice for precise measurements of LVM. This 3D technique, with excellent definition of endocardial and epicardial borders, is highly reproducible, which means that a much smaller sample size is needed to detect LVM regression in clinical trials. Furthermore, the serial monitoring of an individual patient to detect changes in LVM can be done with much higher certainty. The acquisition time of the cardiac MRI scan for LV volumes and mass using the most recent techniques can be as short as 3 minutes. The LV volumes analysis in this study was done manually and took, on average, 15 minutes per patient. However, automated contour detection for LV volume analysis software continues to improve and in the near future the speed and accuracy of cardiac MRI should offset any cost differential with echocardiography.
| Conclusion |
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| Acknowledgments |
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Received March 26, 2004; first decision April 13, 2004; accepted May 27, 2004.
| References |
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