Cardiodynamic Studies in the Neonate in Health and in Disease

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Abstract
The results of the vectorial and scalar analysis of the ecgs obtained in the neonatal period of 62 healthy infants born at term were compared with the results obtained in infants born prematurely, in infants born by cesarean section and in infants with respiratory distress. The vector values in the healthy newborn indicate that after birth there is relative electrical preponderance of the right side of the heart and a wide angle between the mean vectors of QRS and T. The spatial vectorcardiographic analysis of the ecg of the newborn provides more precise quantitative information on electrical activity than does a direct vectorcardiographic recording or the simple pattern analysis of the ecg tracing. The results of this study suggest that serial vectorcardiographic evaluations may be of value in the assessment of cardiac dynamics in infants with respiratory distress.