Early electrocardiographic evaluation of atrial fibrillation risk in beta-thalassemia major patients.
Russo V, Rago A, Pannone B, Di Meo F, Papa AA, Mayer MC, Spasiano A, Russo MG, Golino P, Calabrò R, Nigro G.
SourceDepartment of Cardiology, Second University of Naples, Via Leonardo Bianchi, 80100, Naples, Italy, v.p.russo@libero.it.
Int J Hematol. 2011 Apr;93(4):446-451. Epub 2011 Mar 10.
Abstract
Although previous studies have documented a variety of electrocardiogram abnormalities in beta-thalassemia major (β-TM), little is known about P-wave dispersion (PD), an independent risk factor for development of atrial fibrillation. The aim of our study was to evaluate PD in β-TM patients with conserved systolic and diastolic functions. The study involved 40 β-TM patients (age 37.5 ± 10.2; 33 M) and 40 healthy subjects used as controls, matched for age and gender. PD was carefully measured using a 12-lead electrocardiogram. Cardiac iron levels were measured by cardiac magnetic resonance T2 star (CMR T2*) imaging. Comparing to the healthy control group, β-TM group presented increased values of the PD (40.1 ± 12.9 vs. 24 ± 7 ms; P < 0.004) and decreased CMR T2* imaging (29 ± 15 vs. 55 ± 13 ms; P = 0.03). We found a significant correlation between PD and CMR T2* values. Our study showed a significant increase of PD in β-TM patients with conserved systolic and diastolic cardiac functions. Our results indicate that PD is correlated to myocardial iron deposit, as assessed by CMR T2* imaging.
PMID:21512730