Two-dimensional echocardiographic diagnosis of postinfarction ventricular aneurysms

Summary

A comparative study of two-dimensional echocardiography with ECG was performed in 52 patients with myocardial infarction. Based on Sun’s ECG criteria for diagnosing ventricular aneurysm, the sensitivity of two-dimensional echocardiography (2-DE) to diagnosing ventricular aneurysm was found to be 73% and the specificity, 98 %. This article proposes the following 2-DE criteria for diagnosing ventricular aneurysm: (l) a localized bulge of the ventricular chamber throughout the cardiac cycle, (2) akinesia or paradoxical motion of the bulging ventricular wall. 2-DE can not only define the site of ventricular aneurysm but also furnish information on the size of ventricular aneurysm, the motion situation of the ventricular wall and left ventricular function, etc. Therefore, 2-DE is more valuable for diagnosing ventricular aneurysm than ECG.