Accuracy of intracoronary ECG parameters for myocardial ischemia detection

Introduction: The electrocardiogram (ECG) is a valuable diagnostic tool for the diagnosis of myocardial ischemia during acute coronary syndrome. Aside from the commonly used ST-segment shift indicative of ischemia, several other ECG parameters are pathophysiologically reasonable. Thus, the goal of this study was to assess the accuracy of different ischemia parameters as obtained by the highly susceptible intracoronary ECG (icECG).

Method: This was a retrospective observational study in 100 patients with chronic coronary syndrome. From each patient, a non-ischemic as well as ischemic icECG at the end of a one-minute proximal coronary balloon occlusion was available, and analysed twice by three different physicians, as well as once together for consensual results. The evaluated parameters were icECG ST-segment shift (mV), ST-integral (mV*sec), T-wave-integral (mV*sec), T-peak (mV), T-peak-to-end time (TPE; msec) and QTc-time (msec).

Results: All six icECG parameters showed significant differences between the non-ischemic and the ischemic recording. Using the icECG recording during coronary patency or occlusion as criterion for absent or present myocardial ischemia, ROC-analysis of icECG ST-segment shift showed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.963 ± 0.029 (p < 0.0001). AUC for ST-integral was 0.899 ± 0.044 (p < 0.0001), for T-wave integral 0.791 ± 0.059 (p < 0.0001), for T-peak 0.811 ± 0.057 (p < 0.0001), for TPE 0.667 ± 0.068 (p < 0.0001), and for QTc-time 0.770 ± 0.061 (p < 0.0001). The best cut-off point for the detection of ischemia by icECG ST-segment shift was 0.365 mV (sensitivity 90%, specificity 95%).

Conclusion: When tested in a setting with artificially induced absolute myocardial ischemia, icECG ST-segment shift at a threshold of 0.365 mV most accurately distinguishes between absent and present ischemia.