Electrophysiological tests in clinical laboratory]

We briefly described recently developed methods for testing cardiac electrophysiological phenomena such as 24-hour Ambulatory ECG, high resolution ECG, body surface mapping ECG, heart rate variability, QT and QT dispersion, and T wave alternans. Of these methods ambulatory ECG monitoring is important and useful for detecting malignant arrhythmias and ischemia attacks, especially in cases of vasospastic angina. Using this method, it is possible to quantitatively analyze arrhythmia and elucidate the pathophysiology of vasospastic angina. The monitoring system is useful not only for diagnosis, but also for assessing treatment efficacy. Heart rate variability is currently used for analyzing the autonomic nervous system; however, the exact meaning of each index still remains to be confirmed. The concept of QT dispersion was recently introduced as an index for detecting dispersion of ventricular repolarization and QT dispersion is still controversial. T wave alternans monitoring has been recently introduced as a new method of assessing the microvolt level of T wave alternans, which has been hypothesized to correlate with the occurrence of arrhythmic events in myocardial infarction. The possible roles of these methods and their applications for clinical practice are discussed.