PMID: 3756579Jul 1, 1986Paper

Echocardiography in the study of myocardial ischemia in man: the clinical model of Prinzmetal's angina

The Canadian Journal of Cardiology
A DistanteF Lattanzi

Abstract

Standard echocardiography was employed to study the clinical model of myocardial ischemia with ST-segment elevation, well known as Prinzmetal's angina. Ultrasonic monitoring was performed during the appearance of ST-segment elevation, from onset of pain, during an ergonovine maleate test, hemodynamic monitoring, radioisotopic studies and, occasionally, during routine examinations, when spontaneous episodes occurred. Reliability of findings was supported by two important conditions: each patient acted as his own control, since recording was carried out from basal state to basal state, throughout ischemia, or from ischemia to basal state; behaviour of ischemic walls was compared with that of non-ischemic ones. Echocardiographic findings in acute myocardial ischemia were similar both in spontaneous and in induced episodes and were mainly characterized by: decrease in contractility indices of the ischemic segment, such as wall motion and percent systolic thickening; increase in left ventricular end-systolic and end-diastolic diameter, with a decrease in percent fractional shortening; distorted shape of ventricular cavity, transiently deformed as in a "functional" aneurysm; a sharp demarcation between ischemic and non-ischemic adjac...Continue Reading

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