Prognostic value of echocardiography after acute myocardial infarction.

Echocardiography is useful for risk stratification and assessment of prognosis after myocardial infarction, which is the focus of this review. Various traditional echocardiographic parameters have been shown to provide prognostic information, such as left ventricular volumes and ejection fraction, wall motion score index, mitral regurgitation and left atrial volume. The introduction of tissue Doppler imaging and speckle-tracking strain imaging has resulted in additional prognostic parameters, such as left ventricular strain (rate) and dyssynchrony. Also, (myocardial) contrast echocardiography provides valuable information, particularly about myocardial perfusion (as a marker of myocardial viability), which is strongly related to prognosis after myocardial infarction. Stress echocardiography provides information on ischaemia and viability, coronary flow reserve can be obtained by Doppler imaging of the coronary arteries, and finally, three-dimensional echocardiography provides optimal information on left ventricular volumes, function and sphericity, which are also important for long-term outcome.