Clinical applications of echocardiography in patients with acute myocardial infarction.
The ability of echocardiography to visualize ventricular wall motion abnormalities induced by ischaemia and infarction makes it an ideal tool in the assessment of patients with acute myocardial infarction. Echocardiographic derived measurements of infarction severity, such as the wall motion score index, correlate well with both early and late complications. Echocardiography is of considerable value in the detection of mechanical complications of myocardial infarction such as aneurysm and thrombus formation, infarction expansion, ventricular septal rupture and mitral regurgitation; Doppler echocardiography is of particular worth in the detection of the latter two complications. Serial echocardiographic imaging before and after various coronary reperfusion strategies allows useful assessment of the success of these strategies. Following a myocardial infarction, a predischarge resting or exercise 2-dimensional echocardiographic study provides valuable information regarding the likelihood of adverse cardiac events during long term follow-up.
Glazier
J J
JJ
Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium.
Herregods
M C
MC
Verwilghen
J
J
De Geest
H
H
Piessens
J
J
D004452:Echocardiography; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D006322:Heart Aneurysm / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008944:Mitral Valve Insufficiency / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011379:Prognosis