[Cross-sectional echocardiographic visualization of the infarcted site in myocardial infarction: correlation with electrocardiographic and coronary angiographic findings].

Three dimensional assessment of the site of myocardial infarct was performed using cross-sectional echocardiography in 68 patients with old myocardial infarction. Patients with a history or electrocardiographic findings suggestive of double or multiple infarctions were excluded from the study. In patients with abnormal Q waves in V1 to V3, a regional wall motion abnormality (asynergy) was observed in the anterior portion of the interventricular septum (IVS) and the anterior free wall of the left ventricle (LV) which was extended from the base to apex. Most of them had a significant stenosis in the left anterior descending artery (LAD) distal to the first diagonal branch. Patients with Q waves in V1 to V5 or V6 showed extensive asynergy in the anterior IVS, anterior and lateral free walls of the LV extended from the base to apex. LAD stenosis proximal to the first diagonal branch seemed to be the corresponding coronary lesion. In patients with Q waves in V3 to V5 or V6, asynergy was limited to the apical half of the anterior wall of the LV. In patients with Q waves in II, III and a VF, asynergy was observed in the basal half of the posterior wall and the posterior portion of the IVS.