Differences in Left and Right Ventricular Function between Different Infarct Sites: An ECG-Gated Blood Pool Study

Abstract

Background:Ventricular function is one of the important prognostic factors in patients with coronary artery disease. Among noninvasive approaches for the evaluation of ventricular performance, radionuclide ventr- iculography has shown to be of particular values in the patients with myocardial infarction. We have evaluated ventricular function with ECG-gated blood pool scan (GBPS in patients with myocardial infarction of different locations and compared right and left ventricular functions. Method:Left and right ventricular function was assessed with multigated blood pool scan in 49 patients at 2-3 weeks after acute myocardial infarction (anterior infarction=23, inferior infarction=19, and lateral infarction=7. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF, right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF, maximal emptying rate, maximal filling rate, phase angle and full width at half maximum (FWHM of phase angles were measured during rest. Results: 1 LVEF was significantly lower in the patients with anterior myocardial infarction (32.2% than that of inferior (46.5%, p<0.001 or lateral infarction (45.5%, p<0.05, but not different between inferior and lateral infarction. 2 RVEF was significantly lower in the patients with inferior myocardial infarction (24.6% than that of anterior (30.5%, p<0.05 or lateral infarction (36.1%, p<0.001, and RVEF of anterior infarction was significantly lower than that of lateral infarction (p<0.05. 3 Phase angle and FWHM of left ventricle and right ventricle phase histogram were not significantly different among the patients groups with different infarct sites. Conclusione:Ventricular function was differently affected by different infarct sites. Inferior infarction resulted in a greater reduction in right ventricular ejection fraction. In contrast, LVEF was greatly depressed in anterior infarction than in inferior infarction. (Korean Circulation J 1998;28(6 :871-878