QRS dispersion detected in ARVC patients and healthy gene carriers using 252-leads body surface mapping: an explorative study of a potential diagnostic tool for arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy

Background The diagnosis of ARVC remains complex requiring both imaging and electrocardiographic (ECG) techniques. The purpose was therefore to investigate whether QRS dispersion assessed by body surface mapping (BSM) could be used to detect early signs of ARVC, particularly in gene carriers. Methods ARVC patients, gene carriers without a history of arrhythmias or structural cardiac changes and healthy controls underwent 12-lead resting ECG, signal-averaged ECG, echocardiographic examination, 24-hours Holter monitoring, and BSM with electrocardiographic imaging. All 252-leads BSM recordings and 12-leads ECG recordings were manually analyzed for QRS durations and QRS dispersion. Results Eight controls, 12 ARVC patients with definite ARVC and 20 healthy gene carriers were included. The ECG-QRS dispersion was significantly greater in ARVC patients (42 vs. 25 ms, p < .05), but failed to fully differentiate them from controls. The BSM-derived QRS dispersion was also significantly greater in ARVC patients versus controls (65 vs. 29 ms, p < .05) and distinguished 11/12 cases from controls using the cut-off 40msec. The BSM derived QRS dispersion was abnormal (> 40 ms) in 4/20 healthy gene carriers without signs of ARVC, which may indicate early depolarization changes. Conclusions QRS dispersion, when assessed by BSM versus 12-lead ECG, seem to better distinguish ARVC patients from controls, and could potentially be used to detect early ARVC in gene carriers. Further studies are required to confirm the value of BSM-QRS dispersion in this respect.

Automated summary

The study found that QRS dispersion assessed by BSM can better differentiate ARVC patients from healthy controls, showing potential for early detection of ARVC in gene carriers. Further research is needed to confirm the effectiveness of BSM-QRS dispersion in this regard.