Electrocardiogram in double chamber right ventricle

Abstract

Thirty patients with a double chamber right ventricle were seen during a 7 year period. The majority of patients had associated cardiac anomalies, most commonly a ventricular septal defect. In this series, as in others, the history, clinical examination, chest roentgenogram and echocardiogram were inconclusive for diagnosing double chamber right ventricle. Symptoms were generally related to the severity of the associated anomalies. In 40 percent of the patients reviewed, upright T waves were found in lead V3R as the only electrocardiographic finding suggestive of right ventricular hypertrophy. Because upright T waves in lead V3R in the absence of other evidence of right ventricular hypertrophy are not commonly seen in patients with an isolated ventricular septal defect or a defect associated with other forms of right ventricular outflow obstruction, this finding should alert the cardiologist to the possibility of the presence of double chamber right ventricle prior to cardiac catheterization.