Monitillo F, Leone M, Rizzo C, Passantino A, Iacoviello M. Ventricular repolarization measures for arrhythmic risk stratification. World J Cardiol 2016; 8(1): 57-73 [PMID: 26839657 DOI: 10.4330/wjc.v8.i1.57]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Massimo Iacoviello, MD, PhD, FESC, FANMCO, Cardiology Unit, Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation, University of Bari, Piazza Giulio Cesare 11, 70124 Bari, Italy. massimo.iacoviello@cardio.uniba.it
Research Domain of This Article
Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Cardiol. Jan 26, 2016; 8(1): 57-73 Published online Jan 26, 2016. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v8.i1.57
Ventricular repolarization measures for arrhythmic risk stratification
Francesco Monitillo, Marta Leone, Caterina Rizzo, Andrea Passantino, Massimo Iacoviello
Francesco Monitillo, Marta Leone, Caterina Rizzo, Massimo Iacoviello, Cardiology Unit, Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation, University of Bari, 70124 Bari, Italy
Andrea Passantino, Division of Cardiology and Cardiac Rehabilitation, “S. Maugeri” Foundation, IRCCS, Institute of Cassano Murge, 70020 Bari, Italy
Author contributions: Monitillo F reviewed all the literature concerning the review, equally contributed to the scripture and revision of the paper and finally approved the submitted version; Leone M reviewed the literature concerning the review, equally contributed to the scripture and revision of the paper and finally approved the submitted version; Rizzo C reviewed the literature concerning the review, equally contributed to the scripture and revision of the paper and finally approved the submitted version; Passantino A contributed to the revision of the paper and finally approved the submitted version; Iacoviello M decided the structure and contents of the review, equally contributed to the scripture and revision of the paper and finally approved the submitted version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Massimo Iacoviello, MD, PhD, FESC, FANMCO, Cardiology Unit, Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation, University of Bari, Piazza Giulio Cesare 11, 70124 Bari, Italy. massimo.iacoviello@cardio.uniba.it
Telephone: +39-80-5478622 Fax: +39-80-5478796
Received: May 30, 2015 Peer-review started: June 4, 2015 First decision: July 27, 2015 Revised: September 4, 2015 Accepted: November 3, 2015 Article in press: November 4, 2015 Published online: January 26, 2016
Abstract
Ventricular repolarization is a complex electrical phenomenon which represents a crucial stage in electrical cardiac activity. It is expressed on the surface electrocardiogram by the interval between the start of the QRS complex and the end of the T wave or U wave (QT). Several physiological, pathological and iatrogenic factors can influence ventricular repolarization. It has been demonstrated that small perturbations in this process can be a potential trigger of malignant arrhythmias, therefore the analysis of ventricular repolarization represents an interesting tool to implement risk stratification of arrhythmic events in different clinical settings. The aim of this review is to critically revise the traditional methods of static analysis of ventricular repolarization as well as those for dynamic evaluation, their prognostic significance and the possible application in daily clinical practice.
Core tip: The analysis of the role of ventricular repolarization perturbations as potential triggers of malignant arrhythmias has increasingly gained interest, particularly as a potential tool for the risk stratification of arrhythmic events in different clinical settings. Several measures of ventricular repolarization have been developed and tested in clinical practice. This review critically revises the traditional methods of static analysis as well as those for dynamic evaluation, their prognostic significance and the possible application in daily clinical practice.
