Body surface distributions of ST segment changes after exercise in effort angina pectoris without myocardial infarction

Abstract

To investigate the sites of exercise-induced ST segment changes on the body surface in effort angina pectoris without myocardial infarction, we performed 87-lead ECG mapping in 61 patients before and 1.5 and 5 minutes after treadmill exercise. ST segment depression most often occurred in the left anterior chest leads and ST segment elevation developed mainly in the right upper chest leads. There was a good correlation between the number of lead points that showed ST segment depression (nSTd) and the number of those that showed ST segment elevation (nSTe) 1.5 minutes after exercise ( r = 0.92). From 1.5 to 5 minutes after exercise, changes in nSTd for individual patients correlated well with changes in nSTe ( r = 0.89). It was suggested that the ST segment elevation observed in this study directly reflected the subendocardial ischemia of the left ventricle. In patients with one-vessel disease (n = 32), there was wide overlap in the sites of ST segment changes among patients with left anterior descending artery disease (n = 19), those with left circumflex artery disease (n = 6), and those with right coronary artery disease (n = 7). These findings should lead to a better understanding of exercise-induced ST segment changes for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease.