[The relationship between mitral regurgitation and asynergy of the left ventricle in old myocardial infarction].

To elucidate the mechanism of mitral regurgitation (MR) in patients with old myocardial infarction, two-dimensional (2D) and 2D Doppler echocardiographic examinations were performed in 92 patients. According to the sites of asynergy in the short-axis view of the left ventricle at the papillary muscle level, the patients were classified in three groups; i.e., anteroseptal (AS) group (49 cases), inferoposterior (IP) group (29 cases), and the AS + IP group (14 cases). The existence and severity of MR were evaluated by 2D Doppler echocardiography and the presence of mitral valve prolapse (MPV), by 2D echocardiography. The mitral valve ring diameter was also measured. The incidence of MR was significantly higher in the IP group (41%) and AS + IP group (43%) than in the AS group (20%) (p less than 0.05, respectively). In the IP group, 21 patients had left ventricular asynergy at the base of the posterior papillary muscle; eight did not. In the former 21 patients with asynergy, MR was detected in 12 (57%) and MVP in nine (43%), whereas neither MR nor MVP was detected in the eight patients without asynergy. The grade of MR assessed by 2-D Doppler echocardiography was significantly more severe in patients with MVP than in those without MVP (MR distance: 23 +/- 6 mm with MVP vs 11 +/- 1 mm without MVP; p less than 0.05, MR area; 312 +/- 217 mm2 with MVP vs 64 +/- 29 mm2 without MVP; p less than 0.05). MR appeared at the mitral orifice between its middle portion and the posteromedial commissure, which coincided with the site of MVP in the majority of cases. In the AS and AS + IP groups, however, such close relationships between MR and MVP were absent. In these groups, mitral valve ring diameters were significantly larger in patients with MR than in those without MR (AS group: 32 +/- 3 mm with MR vs 24 +/- 2 mm without MR; p less than 0.01, IP group: 26 +/- 2 mm with MR vs 25 +/- 2 mm without MR; NS, AS + IP group: 30 +/- 3 mm with MR vs 24 +/- 1 mm without MR; p less than 0.05). Mitral valve ring diameters in the IP group with MR (26 +/- 2 mm) were smaller than in those in the AS and AS + IP groups with MR, and did not differ from those in the IP group without MR (25 +/- 2 mm). In conclusion, posterior papillary muscle dysfunction was mainly responsible for MR in the inferoposterior infarction and the dilatation of the mitral valve ring in the infarction involving the anteroseptal wall.