Ultrasonic measurement of left ventricular wall motion in acute myocardial infarction.

The time-motion representation of the echogram was used to evaluate the left ventricular posterior wall motion in myocardial infarction. The left ventricular posterior wall echo was obtained in 10 normal subjects and 26 patients with chest pain admitted to a coronary care unit, including 11 with acute myocardial infarction (group 1), nine with old myocardial infarction (group 2), and six with chest pain of miscellaneous origin (group 3). The total amplitude of posterior wall excursion, left ventricular isometric contraction time, left ventricular systolic ejection time, and mean posterior wall velocity (ratio of posterior wall excursion to ejection time) were measured. By using the measurements of posterior wall excursion, mean posterior wall velocity, and isometric contraction time, group 1 patients were differentiated from those of groups 2 and 3 and from the normal subjects (all P < 0.01). The data from patients in groups 2 and 3 were not statistically different from those of normal subjects. The measurements obtained by the time-motion curve of the left ventricular posterior wall echo appear to be of value in the bedside evaluation of acute myocardial infarction.