Use of the Echocardiogram for Identifying Infarct Expansion

Abstract

In its capacity for repeated non-invasive examination, echocardiography some years ago raised the attractive possibility of serial evaluation of left ventricular size and shape in acute myocardial infarction. The initial impetus for using two-dimensional echocardiography in this way was provided by the pathologists. Post mortem studies of patients dying within 30 days after acute myocardial infarction had shown that up to 2/3 of such patients had some thinning and dilatation of the infarcted area within one week of infarction (1) and that in approximately 1/3 of patients’ hearts with transmural infarcts there was marked expansion of the infarcted zone, resulting in obvious cardiac dilatation. This process occurred with little or no histologic evidence of infarct extension or further necrosis after the initial acute event.