Left ventricular dysfunction after myocardial infarction: long-term results with medical therapy.

Long-term prognosis was studied in 72 patients with an ejection fraction (EF) of less than 50 percent after medically treated myocardial infarction. The patients ranged in age from 22 to 67 years. Eighteen deaths (25 percent mortality) occurred during the mean follow-up period of three years. The mortality for patients with EF ≥ 30 percent was 43 percent compared with 14 percent for EF ≥ 40 percent and 18 percent for EF ≥ 50 percent. Nonsurvivors had significantly higher left ventricular end diastolic (LVED) pressure (23.4 ± 7 mmHg vs 17.5 ± 8 mmHg, P < .006), higher LVED volume (264 ± 76 vs 225 ± 76, P < .05), and lower EF (27.12 vs 36 ± 10, P < .01). A higher percentage of nonsurvivors had complications during acute myocardial infarction (83 ± 8 percent vs 48.5 percent, P < .001). Overall survival rates were better than previously reported for patients with poor left ventricular function (LVF); complications during myocardial infarction and severity of LVF as measured by EF, LVED pressure, and LVED volume were powerful prognostic indicators.