[Influence of the patency of the artery responsible for myocardial infarction on the prevalence of late potentials. Apropos of a study of 80 patients]

Abstract

The pejorative prognostic significance of late potentials (LP) has been clearly demonstrated over recent years. The objective of this study was to assess the influence of revascularization of the artery responsible for infarction (ARI) on the prevalence of LP. We studied 80 patients admitted to hospital for a first infarction. All patients underwent cardiac catheterization (on D8, on average) and high amplification ECG (on D9, on average). The prevalence of LP in the group with an occluded ARI (TIMI grade 0 or 1) was 54% versus 19% in the patent ARI group (TIMI grade 2 or 3) (p > 0.01). It is concluded that revascularization of the ARI (either by thrombolysis or physiological fibrinolysis) is accompanied by a lower incidence of late potentials after myocardial infarction.