[Correlations between coronary and ventricular angiography and the exercise test after myocardial infarction]

The aim of this study to assess the predictive value of exercise stress testing (ET) compared with coronary angiography-left ventriculography (CLV) in 102 patients undergoing physical rehabilitation (PH) after myocardial infarction (MI). The ET was optimised in its performance by the PH and in its interpretation by the selection of the parameters according to the site of MI. In anterior MI, angina (30%) and ischemic ST depression outside the acute period (35%) had little predictive value of multivessel disease which was demonstrated in 40% of cases; on the other hand, ST elevation in the same area as MI (65%) had an 88% predictive value for severe LV impairment which was found in 66% of cases. In inferior MI, ischemic ST depression (75%) more than angina (27%) was of greater predictive value (82%) for multivessel disease which was demonstrated in 59% of cases. The sensitivity was 97% and the specificity 64%; the LAD artery was diseased in 48% of cases. LV function was preserved in 63% of cases, but ET was not useful in the prediction of this parameter. In all cases of MI, the absence of ST changes predicted single vessel disease in 94%; ventricular arrhythmias (5%) stopped the patients reaching a discriminative exercise level but indicated poor LV function. The extreme values of heart rate and double product improved the correlations between ET and CLV. Therefore, ET may provide some of the information of CLV before the usual evolutive criteria and may help avoid this investigation in patients with favourable results, especially with inferior infarction. Although it has no absolute value, systematic ET is justified after MI as it enables the most severe cases to be distinguished from the most benign.