Electrocardiogram and Vectorcardiogram in Right Ventricular Hypertrophy and Right Bundle-Branch Block

Electrocardiographic and vectorcardiographic studies on normal subjects and patients with heart disease suggest that criteria for the diagnosis of right ventricular hypertrophy can be improved and simplified. This report proposes new criteria for the electrocardiographic diagnosis of right ventricular hypertrophy. These criteria decrease the incidence of "false negative" and "false positive" interpretations, and also make possible the recognition of right ventricular hypertrophy in the presence of the R' - V 1 pattern, provided the QRS duration is less than 0.12 second. The findings and limitations of vectorcardiography in right ventricular hypertrophy and "right bundle-branch block" are discussed.