Journal of electrocardiology
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Comparison of a new reduced lead set ECG with the standard ECG for diagnosing cardiac arrhythmias and myocardial ischemia.
In a few patients, 12-lead electrocardiograms (ECGs) derived from reduced-lead-set configurations do not match the standard ECG. Constructing an ECG from a reduced number of standard leads should minimize this problem because some of the resultant 12 leads would always include "true" standard leads. The purpose of this study was to compare the ability of a new reduced-lead-set 12-lead ECG ("interpolated" ECG) with the standard ECG to diagnose cardiac arrhythmias and acute myocardial ischemia. ⋯ The interpolated 12-lead ECG is comparable to the standard ECG for diagnosing multiple cardiac abnormalities, including wide-QRS-complex tachycardias and acute myocardial ischemia. The advantages of this ECG method are that the standard electrode sites are familiar to clinicians and that eight of the 12 leads are "true" standard leads. Hence, QRS-axis and morphology criteria for diagnosing wide-QRS-complex tachycardia and bundle branch and fascicular blocks are preserved.