Visual computed tomographic scoring of emphysema and its correlation with its diagnostic electrocardiographic sign: the frontal P vector.

Background: Verticalization of the frontal P vector in patients older than 45 years is virtually diagnostic of pulmonary emphysema (sensitivity, 96%; specificity, 87%). We investigated the correlation of P vector and the computed tomographic visual score of emphysema (VSE) in patients with established diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease/emphysema.

Methods: High-resolution computed tomographic scans of 26 patients with emphysema (age, >45 years) were reviewed to assess the type and extent of emphysema using the subjective visual scoring.

Computerized tomographic quantification of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as the principal determinant of frontal P vector.

Verticalization of the P-wave axis is characteristic of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We studied the correlation of P-wave axis and computerized tomographically quantified emphysema in patients with COPD/emphysema. Individual correlation of P-wave axis with different structural types of emphysema was also studied.