Residual left ventricular function and prognosis of patients with asymmetric septal hypertrophy recovering from acute myocardial infarction

Abstract

The prognosis of patients recovering from acute myocardial infarction (MI) depends mainly on their residual left ventricular (LV) function. In patients with asymmetric septal hypertrophy (ASH) who are recovering from MI, a larger functioning myocardial mass may remain. However, the frequency of ASH in these patients has not yet been described. Predischarge echocardiography, radionuclide ventriculography, and treadmill stress tests were performed in 403 consecutive patients who had recovered from acute MI. Eighty-eight pationts (32%) had ASH with septal thickness ≥ 1.3, and 32 (8%) had septal thickness ≥ 1.5 cm. One hundred thirty-six patients who had recovered from a first MI and had no ASH served as control subjects. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in the group with ASH was significantly higher than in control subjects (61% vs 50%; p = 0.0001). LV end-diastolic diameter (LVD(d)) and E point septal separation (EPSS) were smaller in the group with ASH (4.9 cm and 5.4 mm) than in the control group (5.5 cm and 10.5 mm). The frequency of positive treadmill test results, angina pectoris, recurrent MI, heart failure, and death during a 22-month follow-up period was similar in both groups. Fifty subjects in the control group were matched with 50 patients from the group with ASH on the basis of maximal level of creatine phosphokinase, location of infarct, and presence or absence of hypertension, and the difference between the two groups was even more marked (LVEF 48% vs 61%, respectively; p = 0.0004). Thus ASH was found in 22% of post-MI patients, and these patients continued to have better LV function then control subjects. However, this was not associated with a better prognosis.