title: [Left ventricular aneurysm in recent myocardial infarction. Echocardiographic study].
abstract: Detection of post-infarction left ventricular aneurysm may have important clinical and therapeutic consequences. Differences in selection and in diagnostic criteria account for the wide range of incidence of left ventricular aneurysm in angiographic and autopsy series. To assess the incidence and related pathological features of ventricular aneurysm, 410 consecutive patients were studied by two-dimensional echocardiography 3 to 8 weeks after the onset of an acute myocardial infarction. In 395 patients (96.3%) technically adequate echograms were obtained: 42 patients (10.6%) had evidence of left ventricular aneurysm defined as a well demarcated bulge in diastole and in systole with a thinned, a-diskinetic walls. The incidence rate of left ventricular aneurysm was 17% in 188 anterior myocardial infarctions, 1.9% in 157 inferior ones, 25.9% in 27 anterior plus inferior infarctions; ventricular aneurysms were not found in any of 15 lateral and 8 posterior myocardial infarctions. Aneurysms were apical or apical-anterior in 25 patients (59.5%), apical-septal in 8 (19%), apical-diaphragmatic in 3 (7.1%), apical-septal-diaphragmatic in 3 (7.1%) and postero-basal in 3 (7.1%). Intraaneurysmal thrombi were detected in 24 patients (57.1%). In 12 cases echograms showed pericardial effusion; this was more frequent (28.6%) than in patients without an aneurysm (7.9%; p less than 0.001). Among patients with an aneurysm, heart failure was present in 19 (45.2%), mitral regurgitation in 3 (7.1%), of systemic emboly in 4 (9.5%), severe ventricular arrhythmias in 4 (9.5%) and angina in 5 (11.9%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  left ventricular aneurysm is a frequent early complication of myocardial infarction. Two-dimensional echocardiography provides non-invasive direct information on localization, extent and related pathological features of ventricular aneurysm and thus appears to be a useful screening technique.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004452:Echocardiography; D006322:Heart Aneurysm / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications*
vernacular_title: L'aneurisma ventricolare sinistro nell'infarto miocardico recente. Studio ecocardiografico.