Analysis of high frequency MID-QRS potentials vs ST segment and T wave analysis for the diagnosis of ischemic heart disease

The objective of the present study was to examine the effect of induced ischemia on the morphology of the high frequency MID-QRS (HF-QRS) potentials in patients referred to Thallium stress myocardial perfusion (SPECT) imaging. High-resolution ECG waveforms from 12 leads were analyzed before, during, and following stress testing using BSP Biological Signal Processing Ltd. (Tel Aviv, Israel) system. The changes in the HF-QRS total energy were examined. Also conventional ST-T analysis for ischemic heart disease was performed. The results from the HF-QRS and the conventional ECG analysis were compared to the nuclear imaging results. The high frequency method detected 24 out of 28 of the ischemic patients (86%), and 37 out of 52 of the non-ischemic patients (71%). The conventional ST segment and T wave analysis detected only 11 out of 28 of the ischemic patients (39%), and 34 out of 52 of the non-ischemic patients (65%). In conclusion, the present study shows that the HF ECG has better clinical diagnostic performance compared to the conventional ECG based methods.