title: Relation between successful late coronary angioplasty of an occluded, infarction-related artery and lower prevalence of ventricular late potentials.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The effect of mechanical reperfusion of the infarction-related artery on ventricular late potentials (VLP) continues to be debated.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the influence of successful late coronary angioplasty on the prevalence of VLP after acute myocardial infarction (AMI).
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 113 consecutive patients (97 men, 16 women, mean age 57 +/- 10.8 years) in whom the infarction-related artery was occluded (thrombolysis in myocardial infarction score 0 or 1) at the time of the initial coronary arteriography 10.9 +/- 6.4 days after a first AMI. Successful late angioplasty of the infarcted artery was performed in 55 patients a mean of 11.5 +/- 7.2 days after AMI. The remaining 58 patients received a conservative treatment. Signal-averaged electrocardiograms (SAECGs) were recorded 25 +/- 10.2 days after AMI. Multivariate analysis was undertaken to assess the influence of late coronary angioplasty with respect to age, sex, infarction site, angiographic ejection fraction, extent of diseased coronary arteries, thrombolysis and time of recording the SAECG.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall prevalence of VLP was 27%. It was greater in patients without than in those with angioplasty (40% compared with 15%, P = 0.017). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that successful angioplasty (odds ratio 3.2; P = 0.019) and ejection fraction >0.4 (odds ratio 5.1; P = 0.0051) were the strongest independent predictors of an absence of VLP. 'Non-inferior' myocardial infarction was also correlated with the absence of VLP (odds ratio 2.6), but with borderline significance (P = 0.053).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  When performed in an occluded, infarction-related artery, successful late coronary angioplasty contributes to a significant decrease in the prevalence of VLP.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Rehabilitation, Centre Médical des Pins, Lamotte-Beuvron, France.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lomama
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Helft
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Persoz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vacheron
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary / Q000009:adverse effects; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D015995:Prevalence; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology