Prognostic value of ventricular arrhythmias and transient st‐t changes after myocardial infarction: A two‐year follow‐up with ambulatory ECG recording

Abstract

Summary: The aim of this study is to evaluate the frequency and prognostic significance of ventricular arrhythmias (VA) and of ST-T changea found during 24-h ECG recording in patients who survived an acute myocardial infarction. Eighty-nine patients (2 females and 87 males) discharged from hospital after acute myocardial infarction were studied. Mean age was 52.2 years (SDf10) with a range of 26-68. Serial observations were carried out at 1, 2, 3, 6, and 12 months after the acute event. Eight patients died during the first two years of follow-up, of these, 2 deaths were of noncardiac origin: one was due to gastric carcinoma and the other to pulmonary neoplasm. Of the 6 cardiac deaths, 4 were sudden and unexpected and 2 were due to reinfarction. Statistical analysis of the results obtained in the first three months of follow-up has not shown any significant correlation between pathologic patterns and cardiac death. In the second period we found a statistically significant relationship between cardiac death and multiform VPBs (p<0.05), CVA (p<0.05), and ST-T changes (p<0.05). More significant was the correlation between cardiac death and the presence at the same time of ST-T changes and multiform VPBs (p<O.Ol).