Study of electrocardiograph in differential diagnosis of pulmonary embolism

Abstract

Objective To explore the characteristics,application and significance of electrocardiogragh (ECG)in diagnosis and differential diagnosis of pulmonary embolism(PE)by contrasting the ECG of PE and several diseases with similiar clinical features.Methods A total of 364 cases were enrolled in this study,including 197 cases of PE,70 cares of coronary artery disease(CAD)with congestive heart failure(CHF),47 cases of essential hypertension(EH)with CHF,and 50 cases of acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome(ALI/ARDS).The ECG of these 364 PE cases were analyzed.Results The rates of axle right drift,lockward rotation,right bundle branch block and pulmonary P wave,V1 lead s-wave were higher than control groups,with significant difference.Bates of S1Q3T3,disposition of T wave in chest lead were the highest in PE group,with significant difference.Conclusion The main appearances of ECG in PE patients hint the heavy load of right ventricular and coronary ischemia.Perhaps S1Q3T3 is the appearance of axle right drift.The sensitivity and speciality of every feature is not good enough to diagnosis or differential diagnosis;dynamic observation of ECG is of great significance to the diagnosis of PE. Key words: Pulmonary embolism; Electrocardiograph; Diagnosis