Do mechanical markers of myocardial ischemia predict the transmural extent of myocardial infarction in man?

BACKGROUND: The present study aimed to explore the relationship between the transmural extent of myocardial necrosis and mechanical markers of myocardial ischaemia in man. METHODS: A group of 40 patients with previous Q-wave myocardial infarction and a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of 27 +/- 11% was studied by cine and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS: Necrotic areas of delayed contrast enhancement were present in every patient and involved 20 +/- 8% of left ventricular myocardium. In involved segments, the transmural extent of contrast enhancement varied from 5% to 100%, being on average 38 +/- 25% of the wall thickness. End-diastolic left ventricular wall thickness and systolic wall thickening were lower in contrast-enhanced segments than in the other segments (P 0.001). Furthermore, although left ventricular wall thickness and systolic wall thickening decreased as the transmural extent of contrast enhancement increased, the correlations were weak (r