Serial electrocardiograms in hypertensive cardiovascular disease

Abstract

A graphic method for depicting serial changes in electrocardiograms is described and demonstrated for patients being treated in an antihypertension clinic. For these patients, the diagnostic categories, normal, left ventricular hypertrophy, and biventricular hypertrophy, are of primary interest. For each electrocardiogram, 14 measurements are used to compute posterior probabilities for each of the three categories. A triangular grid is used to plot each set of probabilities for an electrocardiogram as one point, which by its position in the triangle can be related to the three categories simultaneously. Points representing successive electrocardiograms can be plotted in the same triangle, giving a pattern of change with time. This pattern of change has been corroborated with associated clinical information on a number of patients. This display, which can be produced quickly and efficiently on a computer graphics terminal, should be considered as a possible tool in evaluating the status of individual hypertensive patients in terms of increase or decrease of ventricular hypertrophy and the efficacy of therapeutic measures.