[Left ventricular dimensions and functions in the acute and chronic phase after myocardial infarct--comparison of cine-magnetic resonance tomography, angiocardiography, 2D-echocardiography and technetium ventricular scintigraphy].

To study left ventricular morphological and functional changes in the first six months after acute myocardial infarction, 37 patients (28 male, 9 female, age 42-78 years) underwent cardiac Cine-MRT 1 week, 4 weeks and 6 months after their first myocardial infarction. MR-tomograms were oriented to left ventricular true long and short axis. For comparison, contrast angiocardiographic, radionuclide and echocardiographic left ventricular studies were performed. LV-volume was calculated with the Simpson method for long axis images and by summation of slices for short axis images. Cine MRT results showed the following correlation to angiocardiography: in long axis r = 0.945 for LVEDVI, r = 0.958 for LVESVI, r = 0.869 for LVEF and r = 0.885 for cardiac index; in short axis r = 0.956 for LVEDVI, r = 0.965 for LVESVI, r = 0.917 for LVEF and r = 0.844 for cardiac index. For LVEF correlation to technetium radionuclide ventriculography was r = 0.760 in long and r = 0.861 in short axis. Correlation between Cine-MRT and echocardiography was poor as a consequence of the great variance of echogenity in the study patients. We conclude that Cine-MRT is an excellent method for morphological and functional left ventricular investigation, still limited in clinical praxis by costs and duration. As known from earlier investigations the development of left ventricular dilatation and functional disturbance was influenced by the size and location of the infarction with infarct size being the primary factor in the early and infarct location in the late post-infarction period. Outcome was worst following large anterior infarction.