We registered eECGs at different lead insertion depths in 27 patients and analyzed 199,716 atrial complexes with respect to signal amplitude and slope. Correlation and regression analyses were used to find a criterion for OLID.
Atrial signal amplitudes and slopes significantly depend on lead insertion depth. OLID correlates with body height (rSpearman = 0.71) and can be estimated by OLID [cm] = 0.25*body height[cm] ? 7 cm. At this insertion depth, we recorded the largest esophageal atrial signal amplitudes (1.27 ¡À 0.86 mV), which were much larger compared to conventional surface lead II (0.19 ¡À 0.10 mV, p < 0.0001).
The OLID depends on body height and can be calculated by a simple regression formula.