T-Wave Shape in Clinical Research

To the Editor: The editorial by Wilde and Roden1 in the December 5, 2000, issue of Circulation discussed how differences in electrocardiographic ST-T–wave patterns, together with other phenotypic differences, arise in genetically distinct forms of long-QT syndrome (LQTS).2 The authors observed how important these results can be for the investigation of the pathophysiology of ventricular repolarization. The T wave is the result of repolarization gradients across the ventricular myocardium. The LQTS ST-T–wave pattern study by Zhang et al,2 to which the editorial referred, showed that broad-based T waves are characteristic for LQT1. The editorial also referred to the work of Yan and Antzelevitch,3 …