[Effect of granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor on the function and regeneration of myocardium in rats with experimental infarction].

To test the reparative capacity of stromal cells in myocardial infarction, rats were injected with granulocyte-monocyte-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) (leukomax), a cytokine known by its ability to raise a level of stromal cells in the blood, during first three days after coronary artery ligation. Only 10 of 17 rats (59%) survived 4 weeks in this group compared with 16 of 24 (67%) among rats not treated with leukomax. Echocardiographic and electromanometric studies showed that in both groups ventricular (LV) dilatation which developed during first hours after surgery persisted throughout 6-8 weeks and was combined with decreased ejection fraction and elevated LV end diastolic pressure.

[Origin of QS complexes in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and acute myocardial infarction].

Superficial cardiac ECG mapping was performed to examine 16 patients with acute myocardial infarction and 13 with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy who had electrocardiographic signs of focal myocardial changes (QS complex and/or abnormal Q wave). Deviation of instantaneous ventricular depolarization vectors in the direction opposite the malfunctioning myocardial portion that had partially or completely lost its electric activity was found to underlie the formation of QS complex in patients with acute myocardial infarction. In some patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, an abnormal QS complex is attributed to sharp changes in central and end instantaneous depolarization vector orientation in the direction of the most hypertrophic septal portions, the location of a QS areas corresponding to variants of asymmetric septal hypertrophy.

[A method of diagnosis in posterior myocardial infarct].

Based on the results of examination of 58 patients with myocardial infarction, the authors propose a method for diagnosing posterior myocardial infarction by abdominal electrocardiographic mapping. The anterior abdominal wall shows the area from which one may record the direct markers of posterior myocardial infarction: abnormal Q wave, R wave regression, abnormal QS complex, as well as ST segment elevation which is typical of acute myocardial infarction. The anterior abdominal wall also defines the areas from which direct signs of inferior and lateral myocardial infarctions may be recorded.

[Possibilities of electrocardiography in the evaluation of necrotization process in posterior myocardial infarction].

In a study of 46 patients with acute posterior myocardial infarction and different patterns of the necrotic period, anatomical measurements of necrosis weight were compared with the measurements of R wave amplitude and the depth of Q and S waves (the QS complex), recorded from standard leads and precordial mapping, and with serum CPK-MB activity. The results of this comparison suggest that the rate of necrosis formation can be assessed on the basis of variation in the ventricular complex, recorded from standard ECG leads. Electrocardiographic criteria of the severity of the necrotic stage of posterior myocardial infarction and repeated necrosis formation are identified.