Extent of myocardial ischemia during coronary occlusion in single vessel disease. A comparison between patients with exercise-induced angina and patients with recurrent angina at rest.

Patients with exercise angina >2 months (n:13) showed significantly lower SigmaST elevation during 120 s balloon coronary occlusion than those with =<2 months (n:7), or those with angina at rest <=2 days (n:8) but similar to patients with angina at rest >2 days (n:7). These results underscore the importance of the kind and duration of angina in limiting the extent of ischemia during coronary occlusion.

Predischarge low-dose dobutamine test and prediction of left ventricular function at 1 year in patients with a first anterior myocardial infarction.

Background: It is unclear whether spontaneous improvement in contractility following acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is related to severity of predischarge systolic dysfunction and can be predicted by isotopic ventriculography with a low-dose dobutamine test (DBT).

Hypothesis: Spontaneous improvement in contractility would be similar in patients with more preserved and those with depressed ventricular function, and a DBT test could predict it.

Methods: Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), regional contractility score (RCS), and left ventricular end-diastolic volume index (EDVI) at predischarge, during DBT, and at 1 year were analyzed in 43 patients with a first anterior ST-elevation AMI.

ST segment elevation at 72 hours in patients with a first anterior myocardial infarction best correlates with pre-discharge and 1-year regional contractility and ventricular dilatation.

Aims: To analyse the relationship between the in-hospital course of ST segment elevation (STE) and negative T wave (NTW) with ejection fraction, regional contractility and left ventricular end-diastolic volume at pre-discharge and at 1 year in patients with a first anterior STE acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Methods And Results: ECG changes were measured during hospitalization and at 1 year whereas ejection fraction, regional contractility score and end-diastolic volume index were measured by isotopic ventriculography at pre-discharge and at 1 year. At 72h but not earlier patients with SigmaSTE >0.