Value of serial apexcardiograms during and after myocardial infarction

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Diagnostic Imaging
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Acute myocardial infarction can lead to significant ventricular dysfunction.
• Assessing cardiac wall motion abnormalities and ventricular performance is crucial for patient management.
• Non-invasive diagnostic tools are valuable for serial patient monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the utility of apexcardiograms in serially assessing patients after acute myocardial infarction.
• To correlate apexcardiogram findings with objective measures of ventricular dysfunction and wall motion abnormalities.
• To determine if apexcardiograms can predict results of invasive cardiac studies.

Main Methods:

• Systematic serial recording of apexcardiograms in 40 post-myocardial infarction patients.
• Apexcardiograms were also recorded in 21 patients with known ventricular aneurysms and 18 with preserved ventricular function post-myocardial infarction.
• Correlation of apexcardiogram findings (A wave, systolic waves) with cinefluoroscopic and cineangiographic data.

Main Results:

• Abnormalities in the apexcardiogram's A wave and systolic waves strongly correlated with akinesia or dyskinesia.
• Presence of third/fourth heart sounds and apical systolic murmurs also showed good correlation with ventricular dysfunction.
• Apexcardiogram findings predicted outcomes seen in invasive studies for most patients.

Conclusions:

• Apexcardiography serves as a valuable qualitative tool for the serial assessment of patients following acute myocardial infarction.
• The non-invasive apexcardiogram can predict the findings of more invasive cardiac diagnostic procedures.
• This technique aids in understanding ventricular wall motion and overall cardiac performance post-MI.