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. 2002 Dec;88(6):592-6.
doi: 10.1136/heart.88.6.592.

Early prediction of improvement in ejection fraction after acute myocardial infarction using low dose dobutamine echocardiography

F Nijland  1 , O Kamp, P M J Verhorst, W G de Voogt, C A Visser
Affiliations

Early prediction of improvement in ejection fraction after acute myocardial infarction using low dose dobutamine echocardiography

F Nijland et al. Heart. 2002 Dec.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the relation between changes in ejection fraction during the first three months after acute myocardial infarction and myocardial viability.

Patients: Myocardial viability was assessed using low dose dobutamine echocardiography in 107 patients at mean (SD) 3 (1) days after acute myocardial infarction. Cross sectional echocardiography was repeated three months later. Left ventricular volumes and ejection fraction were determined from apical views using the Simpson biplane formula.

Results: In patients with viability, ejection fraction increased by 4.4 (4.3)%; in patients without viability it remained unchanged (0.04 (3.6)%; p < 0.001). A > or = 5% increase in ejection fraction was present in 21 of 107 patients (20%). Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that myocardial viability in > or = 2 segments predicted this increase in ejection fraction with a sensitivity of 81% and a specificity of 65%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to define which clinical and echocardiographic variables were related to > or = 5% improvement in ejection fraction. Myocardial viability, non-Q wave infarction, and anterior infarction all emerged as independent predictors, myocardial viability being the best (chi(2) = 14.5; p = 0.0001). Using the regression equation, the probability of > or = 5% improvement in ejection fraction for patients with a non-Q wave anterior infarct with viability was 73%, and for patients with a Q wave inferior infarct without viability, only 2%.

Conclusions: Myocardial viability after acute myocardial infarction is the single best predictor of improvement in ejection fraction. In combination with infarct location and Q wave presence, the probability of > or = 5% improvement can be estimated in individual patients at the bedside.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Change in left ventricular ejection fraction between baseline and three months after myocardial infarction in patients with and without viability.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Relation between the number of segments with viability detected by low dose dobutamine echocardiography and the change in the ejection fraction from baseline to three months in patients with acute myocardial infarction.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Empirical receiver operating characteristic curve for prediction of improvement in ejection fraction for the number of segments with viability.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Scatterplot showing correlation of changes in ejection fraction during low dose dobutamine with those observed three months after acute myocardial infarction.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

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