Coronary flow velocity pattern and recovery of regional left ventricular function: the relationship observed in patients with reperfused acute myocardial infarction.

Coronary flow velocity pattern (CFVP) recorded within 3 days of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been reported to be useful in predicting left ventricular (LV) function. The aim of this prospective study was to investigate, via transthoracic Doppler echocardiography, whether the relationship between CFVP and recovery of LV function persists. Our study group comprised 37 patients with 1st anterior-wall acute myocardial infarction who underwent successful PCI for lesions in the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD). The CFVP in the LAD was recorded at 24-48 hours, 7 days, and 4 weeks after PCI. Myocardial contrast echocardiography was performed at 24-48 hours after PCI. The diastolic deceleration time (DDT) at each stage correlated significantly with the regional LV wall-motion score index at 6-month follow-up (r=-0.58 at 24-48 hr, -0.57 at day 7, and -0.50 at week 4; P <0.01 for all). The mean DDT increased over time. Optimal cutoff values for DDT to predict regional LV wall-motion score indices of <2.0 were 327 ms at 24-48 hours (sensitivity, 0.78; specificity, 0.64), 495 ms at day 7 (sensitivity, 0.75; specificity, 0.69), and 525 ms at week 4 (sensitivity, 0.83; specificity, 0.69). The DDT at 24-48 hours significantly correlated, better than the peak creatine kinase value, with reperfusion (r=0.68, P <0.01) as defined by myocardial contrast echocardiography. In conclusion, CFVP in the LAD can be used, within 4 weeks after PCI, to predict the recovery of regional LV function in patients with reperfused anterior-wall acute myocardial infarction.