Novel electrocardiographic criteria for diagnosis of premature ventricular complexes arising from the base of left ventricle.

Purpose: We report new electrocardiographic criteria (ECG) for localizing premature ventricular complexes (PVCs) originating from the base of the left ventricle (LV).

Methods: QRS deflection (positive negative or negative positive) in lead aVR and aVL respectively, were evaluated in 41 PVC/VT cases.

Results: There were a total of 41 patients, age 64 ± 11 years. Twelve patients had QRS deflection in aVR which were completely opposite to the deflection in aVL. If the PVC originated from basal septum, aVR was negative while aVL positive and vice versa when it was from the baso-lateral LV. PVCs from other LV sites had aVR and aVL deflection in the same direction. The ECG criteria had a sensitivity and specificity of 91% and 84%, respectively.

Conclusion: We propose a new ECG criterion to localize PVCs originating from the base of the LV.