Elsevier, Clinical Neurophysiology, 2(122), p. 405-409, 2011
DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2010.06.017
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OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess cardiac ventricular repolarization in patients with postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and further the possible link between ventricular repolarization and sympathetic nervous system activity. METHODS: We recorded body surface ECGs together with plasma noradrenaline (NE) spillover, and muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) in twelve healthy control subjects (CON; 5 males; age: 23±2 yrs) and 13 subjects with postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS; 4 males; 32±13 yrs) during graded head-up tilt (0°-20°-30°-40°). Ventricular repolarization was assessed by computing various measures of beat-to-beat QT interval variability and T wave amplitude. RESULTS: In patients with POTS, baseline heart rates were higher and MSNA increases during tilt were more pronounced than in CON. None of the QT variability measures was significantly affected by tilt or different between CON and POTS when corrected for heart rate. Contrary, the T wave amplitude flattened due to tilt (p