Segmental wall motion abnormalities in dilated cardiomyopathy: a common finding and good prognostic sign

Fifty patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy were separated into two groups based on the presence of segmental or diffuse left ventricular wall motion abnormalities by radionuclide ventriculography. Investigation included a history and physical examination, electrocardiogram, chest X-ray film, M-mode echocardiogram, coronary angiogram and right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy. Patients with histologic evidence of myocarditis were excluded. Sixty-four percent of the patients had segmental and 36% had diffuse wall motion abnormalities. The group with segmental abnormalities showed significant differences in age (52.5 +/- 10.7 versus 37.8 +/- 14.6 years, p less than 0.001), New York Heart Association functional class III to IV (56 versus 89%, p less than 0.01), pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (14 +/- 9 versus 26 +/- 9 mm Hg, p less than 0.001), left ventricular end-diastolic dimension measured on echocardiogram (67 +/- 8 versus 77 +/- 11 mm, p less than 0.001), cardiac index (2.6 +/- 0.6 versus 2.0 +/- 0.5 liters/min per m2, p less than 0.01) and ejection fraction by radionuclide ventriculography (20 +/- 7 versus 13 +/- 5%, p less than 0.001). Patients with diffuse wall motion abnormalities had poorer histologic findings based on myocardial cell hypertrophy and nuclear changes (p less than 0.01) and a higher short-term mortality with a 1 year survival rate of 50% compared with 90% in patients with segmental wall motion abnormalities by life-table analysis (p less than 0.05). When data were reanalyzed excluding those patients with complete left bundle branch block, no significant change in any variable was detected. Segmental wall motion abnormalities, even when left bundle branch block is excluded, are common in dilated cardiomyopathy in the absence of coronary artery disease.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)