Detection of heart rhythm disturbances in patients after myocardial infarction, and their prognostic value.

For one year 215 patients were followed up who had been taken into the register of patients with myocardial infarction and had survived three months after the incident. At intervals of 3, 6, 9, and 12 months their electrocardiograms of various durations were recorded. Prolongation of the ECG tracing time eases the assessment of the frequencies and nature of heart rhythm disturbances in patients with ischaemic heart disease. Exercise test helps reveal more complicated types of ventricular extrasystoles better than one-hour recording of resting ECG does. Ventricular ectopic activity is more frequently found in patients with unequivocal ECG changes (p less than 0.025), in patients with enlarged heart volume (p less than 0.05), and in men vs. women (p less than 0.05). Presence of ventricular extrasystoles, especially of complicated ones (polytopic, couplets, early) enhances the risk of death of ischaemic heart disease.