Assessment of interventricular systolic relationship and infarct location in acute myocardial infarction

Background Longitudinal motion of the mitral valve, known as the mitral annular plane of systolic excursion (MAPSE), correlates well with LV systolic function. Similarly, tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) correlates well with RV systolic function. Echocardiographically, the absolute value of TAPSE was greater than MAPSE, by 54.5% in a recent study of normal subjects and the MAPSE/TAPSE ratio is 0.66±0.14 (1). However, the interventricular systolic relationship has not been accurately defined in the presence of regional wall motion abnormalities. We hypothesised that the interventricular systolic relationship, measured by the ratio of averagedMAPSE and TAPSE, changes in the presence of acute myocardial infarction with regional wall motion abnormality.