Dispersion of QT and QRS in Patients with Severe Congestive Heart Failure: Relation to Cardiac and Sudden Death Mortality

I n the last few years, QT dispersion constitutes an intensively studied, possible prognostic factor of arrhythmic and, in general, cardiac risk as regards patients suffering from various heart diseases. High values of QT dispersion reflect an inhomogeneity of the repolarization time of the ventricular myocardium that may be the substrate for the development of malignant ventricular arrhythmias. At the same time, pharmaceutical agents with a proven anti-arrhythmic effect, such as sotalol and amiodarone, seem to reduce this dispersion. In coronary artery disease, a reduction of the QT dispersion was observed following successful thrombolytic treatment in patients with acute myocardial infarction. To the contrary, high QT dispersion values were correlated with increased risk of life threatening arrhythmias in patients who have survived an acute infarct. However, in a recently published study, this same parameter did not constitute a predictive factor for mortality or for arrhythmic events in a similar population of patients. Contrary to coronary artery disease, the existing data on the usefulness of QT Dispersion of QT and QRS in Patients with Severe Congestive Heart Failure: Relation to Cardiac and Sudden Death Mortality