Electrocardiographic Screening of Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy in Genotype-Positive and Phenotype-Negative Relatives

Jose Maria Lopez-Ayala; Javier Gimeno-Blanes; David Lopez-Cuenca; Maria Sabater Molina; Juan Ramon Gimeno-Blanes

doi:10.3389/fcvm.2021.646391

Electrocardiographic Screening of Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy in Genotype-Positive and Phenotype-Negative Relatives

Front Cardiovasc Med. 2021 May 7:8:646391. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2021.646391. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Jose Maria Lopez-Ayala¹, Javier Gimeno-Blanes², David Lopez-Cuenca³, Maria Sabater Molina³, Juan Ramon Gimeno-Blanes³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiology, San Juan General University Hospital, Alicante, Spain.
² Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Miguel Hernández University, Alicante, Spain.
³ Department of Cardiology, Virgen de la Arrixaca University Hospital, Murcia, Spain.

Abstract

Background: Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy is a hereditary cause of ventricular arrhythmias and sudden death. Identifying the healthy genetic carriers who will develop the disease remains a challenge. A novel approach to the analysis of the digital electrocardiograms of mutation carriers through signal processing may identify early electrocardiographic abnormalities. Methods: A retrospective case-control study included a population of healthy genetics carriers and their wild-type relatives. Genotype-positive/phenotype-negative individuals bore mutations associated with the development of arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy. The relatives included had a non-pathological 12-lead electrocardiogram, echocardiogram, and a cardiac magnetic resonance. Automatic digital electrocardiographic analyses comprised QRS and terminal activation delay duration, the number of QRS fragmentations, ST slope, and T-wave voltage. Results: Digital 12-lead electrocardiograms from 41 genotype-positive/ phenotype-negative (29 simple carriers and 12 double mutation carriers) and 73 wild-type relatives were analyzed. No differences in the QRS length, the number of QRS fragmentations, and the voltage of the T-wave were observed. After adjusting for potential confounders, double carriers showed an average ST-slope flatter than those of the simple carriers and wild type [5.18° (0.73-8.01), 7.15° (5.14-11.05), and 11.46° (3.94-17.49), respectively, p = 0.005]. There was a significant negative correlation between the ST slope and the age in genotype-positive/phenotype-negative relatives (r = 0.376, p = 0.021) not observed in their wild-type counterparts (r = 0.074, p = 0.570). Conclusions: A flattened ST segment may be an early sign of electrical remodeling that precedes T-wave inversion in healthy genetic carriers. A thorough analysis of the digital electrocardiographic signal may help identify and measure early electrical abnormalities.

Keywords: arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy; early diagnosis; electrocardiogram; familiar screening; genetic carrier.