T-wave alternans (TWA) is a marker of myocardial electrical instability. We compared ECG features of microvolt TWA in coronary artery disease (CAD) and long QT syndrome (LQTS) patients.
Method: The study populations consisted of 43 CAD and 39 LQTS patients. TWA was detected in resting Holter recordings using the new correlation method (CM). After preprocessing to adjust for RR variability and respiratory modulation, CM was used to quantify TWA amplitude (A(CM)), duration (N(CM)), and magnitude (MAG(CM); defined as the product of A(CM) and N(CM)).
Results: TWA was detected in 19 (44%) CAD and 17 (44%) LQTS patients. TWA was associated with longer RR intervals (P = 0.006) and had larger magnitudes (P = 0.067) in LQTS than CAD patients. The TWA was identified as transient (nonstationary) in 15 of 19 (79%) TWA-positive CAD patients, and in 8 of 17 (47%) TWA-positive LQTS patients (P = 0.047).
Conclusions: The frequency of TWA detected with CM is similar in LQTS and CAD patients. TWA is larger in LQTS than in CAD patients, whereas TWA is more frequently transient (nonstationary) in LAD than LQTS patients. In LQTS patients, but not in CAD patients, a longer RR is associated with TWA, indicating different electrophysiologic mechanisms in the two pathologies.