In vivo dispersion in repolarization and arrhythmias in the human heart Tobias Opthof Experimental and Molecular Cardiology Groups, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam; and Department of Medical Physiology, University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands IN THIS ISSUE of American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology , Chauhan and colleagues ( 5 ) have measured dispersion in ventricular repolarization time (RT) in patients with cardiomyopathy and an ejection fraction ≤40%. Such data are sparse in humans in general. The measurements have been made at the right ventricular (RV) endocardium and at the left ventricular (LV) epicardium by a catheter in the great cardiac vein. This study by Chauhan et al. ( 5 ) is one of the very few with data from the endocardium and epicardium in the same patients. Also, the patients were conscious. RT dispersion was in the order of 10–12 ms/mm in 12 patients in which either ventricular tachycardias (VT) could be provoked or in which there was positive microvolt T wave alternans (TWA). In 10 patients without VTs or TWA, RT dispersion was limited to 2–3 ms/mm. A similar increased dispersion in activation-recovery intervals (ARI; an index of local action potential duration), but not dispersion in
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