Left ventricular function after myocardial infarction

We assessed simultaneously left ventricular filling pressure and stroke index with left ventricular ejection fraction in 22 patients who had had their first transmural myocardial infarction about 11 days before the examination. Eleven were classified as anterior myocardial infarctions and 11 as inferior. Left ventricular ejection fraction was determined by equilibrium radionuclide angiocardiography. Significant correlations between left ventricular ejection fraction and left ventricular filling pressure or stroke index were obtained both at rest and during exercise. Left ventricular dysfunction was more severe in patients with anterior myocardial infarction whose left ventricular ejection fraction at rest was 34.9±3.4% as compared to 52.6±2.1% in inferior myocardial infarction. We conclude that the radionuclide method is as sensitive as catheterization for detecting left ventricular dysfunction at rest and during exercise in patients with myocardial infarction.