Methods Inf Med 2012; 51(01): 3-12
DOI: 10.3414/ME11-01-0046
Original Articles
Schattauer GmbH

Localizing the Accessory Pathway in Ventricular Preexcitation Patients Using a Score Based Algorithm

L. J. Rantner
1   Institute of Electrical, Electronic and Bioengineering, University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology (UMIT), Hall in Tirol, Austria
2   Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
4   Current address: Department of Biomedical Engineering and Institute for Computational Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
,
M. C. Stühlinger
2   Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
,
C. N. Nowak
1   Institute of Electrical, Electronic and Bioengineering, University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology (UMIT), Hall in Tirol, Austria
,
K. Spuller
2   Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
,
K. Etsadashvili
2   Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
,
X. Stühlinger
2   Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
,
T. Berger
2   Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
,
W. Dichtl
2   Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
,
R. M. Gothe
3   Department of Public Health and Health Technology Assessment, UMIT, Hall in Tirol, Austria
,
G. Fischer
1   Institute of Electrical, Electronic and Bioengineering, University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology (UMIT), Hall in Tirol, Austria
,
F. Hintringer
2   Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

received:22 May 2011

accepted:23 August 2011

Publication Date:
20 January 2018 (online)

Summary

Objectives: Clinical data was analyzed to find an efficient way to localize the accessory pathway in patients with ventricular preexcitation.

Methods: The delta wave morphologies and ablation sites of 186 patients who underwent catheter ablation were analyzed and an algorithm (“locAP”) to localize the accessory pathway was developed from the 84 data sets with a PQ interval ≤ 0.12 s and a QRS width ≥ 0.12 s. Fifty additional patients were included for a prospective validation. The locAP algorithm ranks 13 locations according to the likelihood that the accessory pathway is localized there. The algorithm is based on the locAP score which uses the standardized residuals of the available data sets.

Results: The locAP algorithm’s accuracy is 0.54 for 13 locations, with a sensitivity of 0.84, a specificity of 0.97, and a positive likelihood ratio of 24.94. If the two most likely locations are regarded, the accuracy rises to 0.79, for the three most likely locations combined the accuracy is 0.82. This new algorithm performs better than Milstein’s, Fitzpatrick’s, and Arruda’s algorithm both in the original study population as well as in a prospective study.

Conclusions: The locAP algorithm is a valid and valuable tool for clinical practice in a cardiac electrophysiology laboratory. It could be shown that use of the locAP algorithm is favorable over the localizing algorithms that are in clinical use today.

 
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