OBJECTIVETo investigate the correlation between heart rate turbulence (HRT) and coronary lesion and the effects of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) on HRT.

METHODSThis study involved 150 patients undergoing 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiography (AECG) and elective coronary angiography (CAG). AECG was monitored on the first day and 7 days after PTCA in 108 patients with positive CAG findings, and the variation of HRT and cardiac functions were observed. The turbulence onset (TO), turbulence slope (TS) and turbulence timing (TT) of each section of HRT were calculated, analyzed and compared.

RESULTSThe values of TO and TT were significantly higher and TS significantly lower in CAG-positive group than in CAG-negative group (P<0.05 or 0.001). Significant difference was found in TO, TS and TT between patients with single and multiple coronary lesions (P<0.05 and 0.001). The values of TO, TS and TT on the first day after PTCA improved significantly in comparison with the those before PTCA in patients with single and multiple coronary lesions (P<0.001). Postoperative follow-up of the patients revealed obviously attenuated HRT in patients with left cardiac insufficiency compared with the patients with normal cardiac function (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONHRT is correlated to the severity of the coronary lesions and shows significant improvement after PTCA. Cardiac function insufficiency is an important factor affecting the HRT attenuation.