[Comparative value of volume indices of the myocardial function of the left ventricle in cardiac aneurysm].
Thirty-nine patients with post-infarction anterior left-ventricular (LV) aneuyrysm were investigated using computerized tomography of the heart and cineradioventriculography. It was demonstrated that LV ejection fraction, both total and that of the intact myocardium, as evidenced ventriculographically in the right anterior oblique projection, fails to reflect the true values of the LV pump function and the clinical stage of heart failure. A high significant and directly-proportionate correlation was demonstrated between the end systolic and end diastolic volumes, and the ejection fraction of total LV and its contracting portion. It is concluded that computerized tomography of the heart is useful in assessing the function of those LV portions that provide for the compensation of cardiac pump function in cases of apical and anterior LV aneurysms. The values of the ejection fraction, and those of residual and end diastolic LV volumes, as shown by computerized tomography, are closely related to the clinical stage of heart failure.