Characteristics of left ventricular regional wall relaxation at the infarction site

In order to investigate relaxation characteristics of the infarcted wall, segment lengths of the left ventricular wall were calculated in 6 patients with anterior myocardial infarction and in 9 angiographically normal subjects. The biplane left coronary cineangiography was performed and coordinates of ramifying points of the left coronary artery on the infarcted or non-infarcted wall were measured and the spatial lengths (segment lengths) on each wall were calculated. If the two points are on the left anterior descending artery (LAD) in infarcted patients, a calculated length is regarded as a segment length in the infarcted portion, while if the length is calculated between the two points located on the coronary artery other than LAD, it is a non-infarcted segment. Each segment length was calculated in frame by frame covering one cardiac cycle. The maximum length (Lmax), minimum length (Lmin) and the length at the beginning of P wave of the electrocardiogram (LECG P) were calculated. The extent of relaxation of the segment caused by atrial kick was calculated as (Lmax--LECG P)/Lmax X 100, (% delta Lla). This value was 2.8 +/- 1.5 and 3.5 +/- 1.4% on anterior and inferior walls, respectively, in 9 normal subjects and 3.6 +/- 1.2 and 4.0 +/- 0.9% in 6 patients with anterior infarction, revealing no significant difference among 4 values. This indicates that the amount of lengthening of the segment by atrial kick remains unchanged even if the wall is infarcted. The extent of diastolic lengthening of the segment by rapid and slow fillings, which excludes atrial filling, was calculated as (LECG P--Lmin)/Lmax X 100, (% delta L1-la).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)