title: Limitations of electrocardiography in the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction--comparison with two-dimensional echocardiography.
abstract: In order to assess the sensitivity of the initial electrocardiogram (ECG) in diagnosing the first attack of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), we compared the findings on ECG and two-dimensional echocardiogram (2-D echo) in 74 patients with single vessel coronary artery disease. Group A consisted of 41 patients with infero-posterior AMI while group B consisted of 33 patients with antero-septal AMI. In group A, 12 patients showed normal ECGs, while 2-D echo failed to reveal abnormal left ventricular wall motion in only 2 patients. In those two patients, the quality of the echocardiogram was poor. In group B, only one patient showed a normal ECG, and all patients showed abnormal left ventricular wall motion on 2-D echo. We conclude that electrocardiography has limitations in diagnosing infero-posterior myocardial infarction especially during the acute phase, but 2-D echo is an additional useful diagnostic procedure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Tenri Hospital.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Izumi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iga
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kijima
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Himura
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gen
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Konishi
mesh_terms: D004452:Echocardiography; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity