[X-ray characteristics of heart failure in patients with acute myocardial infarction]

The results of routine chest X-ray made in 250 males aged 22-69 years who had acute myocardial infarction were evaluated. The data were compared with the results of ECG, echocardiography, Judkins coronarography, and left ventriculography. The X-ray signs of pulmonary venous hypertension in acute myocardial infarction, even not followed by cardiomegalia suggest lower left ventricular myocardial contractility. In this connection, the significance of follow-up X-ray monitoring becomes higher. In 25% of the young patients (aged 22-40 years) with prior acute myocardial infarction, the dimensions of the heart may be in the normal ranges even in the presence of X-ray signs of venous congestion. If there are no signs of mitral regurgitation in patients with ischemic heart disease, the enlarged left atrium may be regarded as an indirect X-ray sign of reduced left ventricular contractility. The extent of necrosis in patients with myocardial infarction exerts an impact on hemodynamic changes in the lung.