Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty Performed 24-48 Hours After the Onset of Acute Myocardial Infarction Improves Chronic-Phase Left Ventricular Regional Wall Motion

The authors investigated the capacity of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) performed 24-48 hours after the onset of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) to improve regional left ventricular wall motion. Twenty-four patients were divided into two groups: a PTCA group who received successful PTCA (14 cases) and a non-PTCA group (10 cases) who did not receive PTCA. Left ventricular end-diastolic volume (LVEDV) increased significantly (p < 0.01) from 57 ±14 mL/m2 during the acute phase to 83 ± 16 mL/m2 during the chronic phase in the non-PTCA group, whereas no signifi-cant change in LVEDV was seen in the PTCA group (69 ±26 vs 76 ±16 mL/m2). In addition, in patients with 99 % stenosis/thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) grade 3 flow, increases in regional left ventricular wall motion (Δsd/chord) at the infarcted site between the acute and chronic phases were significantly greater in the PTCA group than in the non-PTCA group (2.49 ± 1.05 vs 0.67 ±0.65, p <0.01). PTCA performed 24-48 hours after the onset of AMI improved wall motion at the infarcted site