Clinical and prognostic significance of late ventricular potentials in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Aim. Evaluation of clinical and prognostic value of late ventricular potentials (7 VP) in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCMP) regarding the arrhythmic and structural-functional characteristics. Materials and methods. 60 HCMP patients were studied: 16, 32 and 12 with apparent, latent and absent obstruction of left ventricular outflow tract. Among other clinical tests, the patients underwent echocardiography with dopplerography and Holter 24-h monitoring LVP were registered at signal-averaged electrocardiography. The results were defined as abnormal in the presence of at least 2 of 3 standard LVP criteria: FORS > 114 ms, LAS > 38 ms, RMS 40 < 20 microV. Results. LVP occurred in 9(15.0%) patients. All of them had obstructive HCMP (3 cases of definite and 6 cases of latent HCMP). The absence of LVP proved to Be a favorable prognostic factor indicating weak probability of development of electric myocardial unstability, syncopal states and sudden death of arrhythmic genesis. Conclusion. The occurrence of LVP in HCMP is not closely related to structural-functional condition of the heart. Detection of LVP is not a reliable predictor of sudden arrhythmic death risk.