Resting and Postexercise Phonocardiogram and Electrocardiogram in Patients with Angina Pectoris and in Normal Subjects

Abstract

One hundred patients with angina and 100 normal subjects, mean age 51 years, had simultaneous phonocardiograms and electrocardiograms at rest and after a double Master's test. A fourth heart sound was present at rest in 43% of the patients and 14% of the normal subjects, and after exercise in 94% of the patients and 29% of the normal subjects. All patients and the normal subject who had a third heart sound at rest had a fourth heart sound at rest, and all who had a third heart sound after exercise had a fourth heart sound after exercise. Fifty-nine per cent of the patients and 4% of the normal subjects had an ST-segment shift ≥1.0 mm, and 67% of the patients and 6% of the normal subjects had an ST-segment shift ≥0.5 mm. After exercise, 97% of the patients and 30% of the normal subjects had a fourth heart sound or an ST-segment shift ≥0.5 mm.