Correlation of electrocardiologic and pathologic findings in 100 cases of Q wave and non-Q wave myocardial infarction.

Of 100 cases of acute myocardial infarction as shown on autopsy, 55 cases were transmural infarcts and 45 were subendocardial. Pathologic Q waves appeared in 67% of the cases of transmural infarct and in 30% of subendocardial infarct. In transmural infarcts, Q wave infarcts occurred twice as frequently as non-Q wave infarcts. In the cases of subendocardial infarcts just the opposite was observed: non-Q wave infarcts had double the frequency of Q wave infarcts. In spite of this, when a myocardial infarct is characterized strictly by electrocardiology, it should be described by only the accurate terminology of Q wave infarct or non-Q wave infarct. To distinguish with certitude between subendocardial infarct and transmural myocardial infarct on the basis of the ECG does not seem possible. Q wave infarct as "transmural" and non-Q wave infarct as "subendocardial" does not correspond to the pathologic evidence.