title: Echocardiographic prediction of the final event in patients dying of acute myocardial infarction.
abstract: From an autopsy series of 346 patients who died of acute myocardial infarction, we selected 36 cases for whom echocardiographic data preceding death were available: 17 cases died from a rupture of the left ventricular free wall (group A) and 19 from pump failure (group B). Our aim was to investigate whether any echocardiographic parameter could predict the final event. The total wall motion score, regional wall motion score index and percent of abnormally contracting myocardium were calculated. Diastolic and systolic volumes, ejection fraction and the eccentricity index, as a rough indicator of the left ventricular shape, were also estimated. Interventricular septum and posterior wall thicknesses were also measured. All measured parameters were similar in both groups except posterior wall thickness. Even though an unavoidable selection bias is present in our series, we failed to identify any echocardiographic predictor of the final event in this patient group.
authors.affiliation: Cardiologia ARC, Ospedale Civile, Pordenone, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mimo
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sparacino
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Nicolosi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cervesato
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Grandis
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lestuzzi
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Rellini
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Charmet
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zanuttini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002423:Cause of Death; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000473:pathology*; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D006342:Heart Rupture, Post-Infarction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D006346:Heart Septum / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D012307:Risk Factors; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000502:physiology