International journal of cardiology
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Comparative Study
Prognostic value of 2D echocardiography in patients presenting with acute chest pain and non-diagnostic ECG for ST-elevation myocardial infarction.
The purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that early detection of regional wall motion abnormalities (WMA) by 2D echocardiography (ECHO) accurately predicts further cardiac events in patients presenting with acute chest pain. A prospective analysis was performed in subjects admitted with the first presentation of acute chest pain and a non-diagnostic ECG for acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction. Patients with known coronary artery disease were excluded. ⋯ Multivariate analysis revealed that WMA in ECHO predict cardiac events independently of age, gender, and the common combination of investigations (H/ECG/TnI). A significant independent impact of ECHO was also determined for the prediction of AMI/death or PCI/CABG. The study shows that early 2D echocardiography provides superior prognostic information concerning the risk of subsequent complications in patients with acute chest pain and a non-diagnostic ECG for ST-elevation-AMI.