[Left ventricular remodeling after myocardial infarction].

Left ventricular remodeling describes a number of geometric and structural changes that the left ventricle undergoes after myocardial infarction. Briefly, it comprises expansion of the infarct and dilatation of the healthy left ventricular segments. Its severity is related to the infarct size. These changes in ventricular geometry, in particular the dilatation, influence the long-term incidence of cardiac failure, the main secondary complication of myocardial infarction. Up to now, therapeutic interventions have been oriented to reducing the infarct size with the aim of avoiding or delaying the occurrence of left ventricular dysfunction. Nowadays, it seems possible to influence the natural process of post-infarction. Left ventricular remodeling independently of efforts to reduce infarct size. There is evidence that this process may be limited pharmacologically with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors. In animal studies, these agents limit remodeling and improve survival after myocardial infarction, but for the moment, despite confirmed benefits on left ventricular modeling, it is not possible to extrapolate these results in terms of clinical mortality.