Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of the Relationship between Exercise-induced R Wave Amplitude Changes and Severity of Coronary Artery Disease

Abstract

The correlation between R wave voltage variations (ΔR) and the angiographic severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) at progressively increasing heart rate (HR) steps was evaluated in 51 patients (pts) without CAD (OV), in 42 pts with single (SVD), in 43 with double (DVD) and in 59 pts with triple vessel disease (TVD). At the end of stress the sensitivity of ΔR was higher in DVD and TVD pts than in SVD pts. There was no clear correlation between exercise-induced R wave changes and the angiographic severity of CAD, since the qualitative and quantitative ΔR evaluation during effort showed similar changes in ΔR for a wide range of HR's in the entire study population. Since different degrees of exercise tolerance were found in pts with SVD, DVD and TVD, we hypothesize that the correlation between ΔR and the severity of CAD at the end of stress testing may be artifactual. © 1984, International Heart Journal Association. All rights reserved.