[Functional reserve of the ischemic left ventricle with ventricular aneurysm to afterload stress: digital subtraction angiographic assessments].

Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) has been confirmed to be an accurate method for determining left ventricular function. It is a relatively non-invasive technique without inducing premature ventricular complexes. The response of left ventricular function to afterload stress was assessed using DSA for eight patients with old anterior myocardial infarction and ventricular aneurysm including that of the anterior wall (averaging 30.3 months after the acute episodes). Their ages ranged from 36 to 65 years and one patient was a woman. Prior to the investigation, we confirmed that a single DSA procedure did not alter left ventricular function in a pilot study of one patient (No. 8). After initial DSA in the basal state, methoxamine was infused intravenously (1 to 2 mg/min). When aortic systolic blood pressure increased by 30 to 50 mmHg, a second DSA was performed for each patient. Left ventricular volumes and ejection fractions were calculated by the area-length method, and regional wall motion was assessed by the visual method according to the AHA classification and the curvature radius of the apical ventricular aneurysm was calculated. Methoxamine induced neither acute heart failure nor angina pectoris in the present series. The heart rates decreased, and there were a significant increase in end-systolic volumes (p less than 0.05), end-systolic radii (p less than 0.05), and a significant decrease in ejection fractions (p less than 0.02) after methoxamine infusion. In 32 of 40 segments, regional wall motion was unchanged by methoxamine as assessed by the visual method; whereas, in the other eight, there was a deterioration.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)