Electrocardiographic changes of patients who were under the rubble and were admitted to the hospital during Kahramanmaraş Earthquake

Abstract

Aims: In this study, we aimed to determine the electrocardiographic findings in earthquake victims who were admitted to our hospital after the Kahramanmaraş earthquake. Methods: We included all patients who applied to Diyarbakır Gazi Yaşargil Training and Research Hospital as earthquake victims in the study. The total number of injured patients removed from the rubble after the earthquake and admitted to our hospital was 321. A total of 139 patients were admitted to our hospital for examination and treatment. Fourty of them have a electrocardiograhphy. Clinical characteristics of the patients were compared according to the presence of crush syndrome. Patients who received further treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU) were compared with patients who did not require intensive care in terms of clinical characteristics. Electrocardiograpghy (ECG) findings were presented in all groups. Results: Crush syndrome developed in 45% of patients, while 25% developed acute renal failure. As expected, compartment syndrome was more common in patients with crush syndrome (66.7% vs 18.2%, p=0.002). The proportion of patients requiring dialysis treatment was 12.5% (n=5). The proportion of patients who received further treatment in the intensive care unit was 35% (n=14). In terms of ECG characteristics, heart rate was higher in ICU-treated patients (105/min vs 86/min, p<0.001), PR interval was longer in ICU-treated patients (0.2 s vs 0.14 s), QRS complex was shorter in ICU-treated patients (0.05 mm vs 0.077 mm, p=0.021). QT interval was shorter in patients who admitted to intensive care unit (0.33 vs 0.35, p=0.021). In patients with crush syndrome, PR interval was longer (0.17 vs 0.16, p=0.006), QRS width was shorter (0.06 vs 0.072, p=0.021). In addition, the T-amplitude in the ECG was found to be higher in those who developed acute kidney injury compared to those who did not (0.20 vs. 0.10, p=0.018). Again, the T-amplitude was higher in those who required dialysis treatment (0.20 vs. 0.10, p=0.009). Conclusion: In this study, we demonstrated some possible ECG changes such as PR prolongation and narrow QRS in earthquake victims admitted to our hospital. ECG can be used as a simple but predictive tool to monitor cardiovascular outcomes in earthquake victims.

Keywords

• Crush syndrome
• electrocardiography
• electrocardiographic findings

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