Incidence of hibernating myocardium after acute myocardial infarction treated with thrombolysis.

OBJECTIVE

To establish the incidence of hibernating myocardium after myocardial infarction treated with thrombolysis and to observe differences in the clinical outcome between patients with and without hibernating tissue.

METHODS

41 patients underwent gated positron emission tomography with 18-fluorodeoxyglucose and 13N-ammonia at a median of eight days after first myocardial infarction.

RESULTS

All 41 subjects had a matched perfusion-metabolism deficit in the region of myocardium indicated as the site of infarction by an electrocardiograph; 32 patients (78%) had scans which also showed at least one area of reduced blood flow and contraction with a concomitant increase in glucose uptake, representing hibernating myocardium. Patients were followed up at a median of six months: all 41 were alive and none had sustained a further infarct or cardiac arrhythmia; 17 subjects with hibernating tissue (53.1%) and two without (25%) reported chest pain after myocardial infarction.

CONCLUSIONS

Hibernating myocardium is relatively common shortly after myocardial infarction treated with thrombolysis. It does not influence mortality or the incidence of postinfarction chest pain.