The diagnostic value of the electrocardiogram based on an analysis of 149 autopsy cases

During the course of the last two decades we have evolved a procedure of interpreting electrocardiograms which is based on our own experiences and those of others. We felt that the accuracy of our diagnosis of normality and abnormality in the electrocardiogram, as well as the specificity of the various patterns that we have come to recognize, should be subjected to critical analysis. Such an analysis can best be made, we believe, by comparing electrocardiographic diagnoses, judged independently, with post-mortem observations in a random series of autopsy cases. This should reveal the merits of the diagnostic criteria we have utilized, and thus demonstrate the accuracy and worth of these criteria. The following report deals with the results of such a study.