Riding the wave: a quantitative report of electrocardiogram utilization for myocardial infarction confirmation

• Published in: American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology 2022-09, Vol.323 (3), p.H378-H387
• Main Authors: Broughton, Philip, Troncoso, Miguel, Corker, Alexa, Williams, Alexus, Bolus, Dawson, Munoz, Gualberto, McWhorter, Caroline, Roerden, Hallie, Huebsch, Penny, DeLeon-Pennell, Kristine Y
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amplitudes; Animals; CD8 antigen; Coronary artery; EKG; Electrocardiography; Female; Genotypes; Humans; Male; Mice; Myocardial infarction; Myocardial Infarction - diagnosis; Reproducibility of Results; ROC Curve; Sensitivity and Specificity; Sex; Surgical outcomes; Triphenyltetrazolium chloride
• ISSN: 0363-6135; 1522-1539; 1522-1539
• DOI: 10.1152/AJPHEART.00201.2022

The purpose of this study was to generate a quantitative profile of electrocardiograms (ECGs) for confirming surgical success of permanent coronary artery ligation. An ECG was recorded at baseline, and 0, 1, and 5 min after ligation and analyzed using iWorkx LabScribe software. (C57Bl6/J, = 8/sex) was enrolled to determine ECG characteristics that were confirmed in (C57Bl6/J, = 6/sex; = 6 males/4 females). Of the 16 mice in , 12 (6/sex) had an infarct ≥35% and four mice (2/sex) had 90% specificity), the non-normalized QRS complex of had an 86% success rate (2 false positives; 1 false negative). The normalized data had a 77% success rate (2 false positives; 3 false negatives). Neither sex nor genotype was associated with false predictions ( = 0.18). Our data indicate that the area under the QRS complex 1 min after ligation can improve reproducibility in MI surgeries. Our study describes a quantitative method for using an electrocardiogram (ECG) to determine which animals have infarcts that reflect coronary artery ligation. Using a quantitative ECG, investigators will have the benefit of having real-time feedback during the procedure, which will ultimately decrease the amount of time investigators spend performing experiments. This overall increase in efficiency will help investigators decrease animal numbers used due to better surgical outcomes.