Decreased incidence of ventricular late potentials after successful thrombolytic therapy for acute myocardial infarction

The New England Journal of Medicine
E S GangT Peter

Abstract

In some patients with acute myocardial infarction, low-amplitude potentials that prolong the QRS complex, termed "late potentials," can be recorded on a signal-averaged electrocardiogram. The presence of these late potentials is known to be associated with an increase in the risk of ventricular tachycardia and sudden death. Because patients with acute myocardial infarction who receive thrombolytic therapy have a reduced incidence of ventricular tachyarrhythmia and sudden death, we sought to determine whether such patients also have a decreased incidence of late potentials. We studied 106 patients less than 75 years of age who were admitted with a first myocardial infarction and in whom a signal-averaged electrocardiogram was recorded within 48 hours of admission. Within four hours of the onset of chest pain, tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) was given to 44 patients, and 62 were treated conventionally. In the t-PA group, late potentials were recorded in 2 of 44 patients (5 percent), as compared with 14 of 62 (23 percent) in the conventionally treated group (P = 0.01). Furthermore, among the patients treated with t-PA, continued occlusion of the infarct-related artery was related to the presence of late potentials. In the t-PA...Continue Reading

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