[Experimental studies of the evaluation of the size of infarct and perfusion defects using analysis of regional wall motion from 2-dimensional echocardiography].

In an experimental study with laboratory animals we studied the relation between the extent of a disorder of regional wall motion as determined by echocardiography and size of a perfusion defect following occlusion of a coronary vessel for 5 hours. It was demonstrated that wall motion is not uniform in a normal left ventricle and that there is a wide range of variability in wall motion within a given myocardial segment. For this reason we determined the extent of a disorder of regional wall motion in two echocardiographic planes with reference to defined normal values. Analysis of interobserver and intraobserver variability showed that reproducible determinations of the circumferential extent of a disorder of regional wall motion and the ejection fraction are possible with an acceptable degree of certainty. There was a significant correlation between morphological determinations of the size of a perfusion defect in the left ventricle and the circumferential extent of a disorder of regional wall motions as demonstrated in the echocardiogram (r = 0.83). The regression curve (y = 4.26 + 0.95x) for determinations of the size of the perfusion defect approached the identity line with a standard error of estimation for the echocardiographic examination of 7.4%. Size of the zone of infarction was overestimated by an average of 8% with echocardiography (r = 0.81), with a standard error of estimation of 6.6% (y = -2.41 + 0.85x). There was no significant correlation between ejection fraction and size of the perfusion defect or the size of infarction.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)