Relationship between changes in left ventricular bipolar electrograms and regional myocardial blood flow during acute coronary artery occlusion in the dog.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a quantitative relationship existed between a reduction in regional myocardial blood flow, measured by radiolabeled microspheres, and the degree and type of changes in myocardial activation recorded in bipolar left ventricular subepicardial and subendocardial electrograms, in open-chest dogs following acute coronary artery occlusion. We found that the degree of regional myocardial ischemia was related quantitatively to the reduction in amplitude recorded with bipolar electrograms in the subepicardium and subendocardium, and to the increase in duration of subepicardial electrograms. Other characteristics measured in electrograms did not relate to the degree of ischemia. Despite a comparable reduction in regional myocardial blood flow, subepicardial conduction delay exceeded that recorded in the subendocardium, which often exhibited accelerated conduction.