Study of Corrected QT Dispersion in Acute ST-elevation Myocardial Infarction (Thrombolysed/ Non-Thrombolysed) Patients and its Prognostic Significant During Hospital Stay

ABSTRACT

Introduction: In the electrocardiogram, the QT interval reflects the duration of depolarization and repolarization of the ventricularmyocardium thus reflects changes in local myocardial milieu. Dispersion of repolarization is thought to reflect regional heterogeneityof the recovery process within the myocardium, which believed to be important in the genesis of ventricular arrhythmias.Purpose of Study The purpose of the present study was to predict the risk of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias andother cardiac complications after acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) event with using rate adjusted corrected QT(QTc) dispersion as one of the cheapest modalities and non-invasive investigation, which may reflect as a prognostic marker.Materials and Methods: The present study had been carried out in the Department of Medicine, NSCB. Medical College andassociated Hospital, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India, from March 2017 to August 2018. This was a case–control prospectiveobservational study. The targeted populations were 60 cases of both sexes with the age group of ≥18–≤70 years, and age- andsex-matched 60 apparently healthy control subjects.Results: Mean QTc dispersion was increased in patients of acute MI compared to control subjects; which were found statisticallyhighly significant. The mean QTc dispersion remained consistently high in a group of patients with cardiac complications incomparison to patients without cardiac complications on day 1 up to discharge. The mean QTc dispersion was found high inpatients who were died compared to who were survived on day 1.Conclusion: It could be concluded that QTc dispersion measurement may provide a potentially simple, cheap, and non-invasivemethod of identification of patients with acute MI (STEMI) at risk of development of ventricular arrhythmias and also relates tothe prognosis in that patients and the future may prove to be an independent predictor of death.