Electrocardiographic criteria of left atrial enlargement: do they correlate with atrial size?

: In the past, M-mode echocardiography, the "gold standard" for determining left atrial dimension (LAD), has been used to examine the validity of the New York Heart Association criteria for left atrial enlargement (LAE). When the authors used two-dimensional echocardiography to determine LAD in 91 patients, they found no significant correlation between any of these criteria, either alone or together, and actual LAE. They propose that if the diagnosis of LAE is made using these criteria alone, that it be qualified at all times with the word "possible.