Predictive values of the electrocardiogram in diagnosing pulmonary hypertension.

Objective: Determination of the prevalences and predictive values of specific electrocardiograms (ECG) criteria of right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) or right atrial enlargement for pulmonary hypertension.

Methods: We examined the ECG and trans-thoracic echocardiograms (TTE) of 372 patients who had TTE and 12-lead ECG, performed within 24 h interval, during a 12-month period. There were 282 consecutive adults with pulmonary hypertension (pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) >30 mm Hg) and 90 subjects with normal cardiac anatomy and normal PASP.