Echocardiographic examination of patients with acute transmural myocardial infarction (MI) is a means for detecting a local contraction disturbance in the affected myocardial zone on the very first day, in agreement with electrocardiographic localization of the infarction. The disturbance intensifies within the subsequent 48 hours; in the third week the function indicators measured exhibit certain improvements, but still do not normalize completely. The local disturbance is more severe in patients with clinical symptoms of left heart failure. On the 3rd day the ejection fraction in patients with heart failure was markedly reduced. The study offers another approach to the evaluation of the dynamics of the left ventricular function in acute MI. In clinical practice echocardiography might contribute to fast and safe diagnosis of severe complications of acute MI, such as papillary muscle dysfunction or rupture, septal rupture, and pericardial effusion, and to assess the effect of certain agents administered for controlling myocardial contraction.

Adult↗

PubMed1980

Echocardiography of ruptured aortic valvular leaflet.

An echocardiographic finding presenting itself as a ruptured noncoronary aortic cusp is described. The basic finding included a constant diastolic echo separation of the right coronary and noncoronary cusps, noncoronary cusp prolapse in the direction of the posterior aortic wall and its high-frequency diastolic flutter. The diagnosis was confirmed at autopsy. The case study reaffirmed the clinical value of echocardiography which was the only technique, including the invasive ones, permitting to make an accurate morphological diagnosis.

Adult↗

PubMed1979

[Echocardiography in aortic valve cusp rupture (author's transl)].

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Adult↗

PubMed1979

The relationship between interventricular septum thickness and its function. An echocardiographic study.

By means of a single beam echocardiography the authors investigated the relationship between interventricular septum diastolic thickness and its function, evaulated as percentage of systolic thickening. 55 persons were examined, partly healthy subjects and partly those with various cardiac diseases, excluding the cases with reversed septum motion or local septum dyskinesis. The found correlation between septum thickness and its function was exponential and statistically significant (p less than 0.001; r = --0.805). Thus, the hypothesis concerning the quantitatively dependent deterioration of the septum function on the degree of its hypertrophy was confirmed.

Cardiomegaly↗

PubMed1979

Evaluation of the left ventricular ejection function by means of single beam echocardiography.

Echocardiographic examination of the left ventricle was performed in a group of 50 patients with various heart diseases. Five methods proposed for left ventricular pump function calculation were used, based on measurements of ventricular end-diastolic diameters. The results have shown that all tested methods of determining the ejection fraction or its functional equivalent (fractional shortening) correlate significantly with the ejection fraction obtained from the considered angiocardiographic technique. The closest correlation (r=0.771) was found when the ejection fraction was calculated from volume values determined by the cubed formula. Among other methods, that of fractional shortening and ejection fraction derived from those values seemed to be well interpretable. Other methods of ejection fraction calculation have a rationale in some cases, but have also their specific limitations.

Cardiac Output↗

PubMed1979

[Echocardiographic evaluation of the function of the Björk-Shiley valve prosthesis].

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Adult↗

PubMed1979

Assessment of myocardial infarct size in clinical practice.

The myocardial infarct size was assessed on the basis of serial analyses of serum creatine phosphokinase (CPK) in 70 patients with first transmural myocardial infarction. Clinical symptoms of heart failure (Killip II-III) were found in patients with infarcts larger than 50 CPK-g-equ; in patients with lung oedema the infarct size averaged 104.2 CPK-g-equ. Patients without clinical and roentgenological evidence of left heart failure (Killip I) had infarct sizes always lesser than 50 CPK-g-equ, averaging 31.7 CPK-g-equ. Precordial mapping of the QRS complex in patients with anterior wall infarction revealed a significant correlation (r = 0.916) between the sum of voltages of Q waves on a 30-lead map recorded 24 hours after hospitalization and the enzymically assessed infarct size. Exact skiagraphic and auscultatory examinations of the heart and lungs, together with precordial mapping of the QRS complex, in patients with anterior wall infarct allow a relatively accurate quantification of the infarct size for prognostic classification of the patients.

Creatine Kinase↗