6 Accuracy of Electrocardiography and Agreement with Echocardiography in the Diagnosis of Left Atrial Enlargement in Pediatric Patients: A Case-Control Study

摘要

Left atrial enlargement (LAE) has been established as a marker for diastolic dysfunction in left-sided cardiac disease. The gold-standard for diagnosis is the echocardiogram. In clinical practice pediatric patients who are suspicious for LAE often receive echocardiograms with concurrent electrocardiograms (ECGs) to exclude other diagnoses. Given the wider access and lower economic cost of ECGs compared to echocardiograms, ECGs have great potential to be used as a screening test to identify patients who would benefit from further investigation by echocardiography. However, the use of ECG criteria for the diagnosis of LAE has not been validated in the pediatric population.