Echocardiographic Predictors of Improvement of Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction below 35% in Patients with ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Introduction: An ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is a clinical syndrome defined by symptoms of myocardial ischemia, persistent electrocardiographic ST-segment elevation and subsequent release of biomarkers suggestive of myocardial necrosis. In clinical practice, echocardiography has become essential in evaluating patients after acute myocardial infarction. We aimed to assess clinical and echocardiographic parameters that may affect LV function recovery in patients after STEMI. Methods: This study is a retrospective observational study from a tertiary referral center in Israel. We collected patients that were admitted with STEMI and a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) below 35% on preliminary echocardiography at the index hospitalization and compared the findings to a follow-up study performed within 1-6 months after that event, in order to see if there are predictors of LVEF change > 10% within 90 days following STEMI. Results: This study included 101 patients that were admitted between 2016 and 2021. Within a median follow-up of 9.7 weeks (IQR 5.9-17.1), 27 (25.2%) patients had improved their LVEF, and 74 (69.2%) had no change or further reduced LVEF. Compared to patients without LVEF improvement, those with improved LVEF were more likely to be female (29.6% vs. 9.5%, p = 0.01), less likely to suffer from hypertension (33.3% vs. 56.8%, p = 0.04) and had marginally higher rates of thrombolysis treatment (14.1% vs. 4.1%, p = 0.06). Conclusions: in the population of STEMI patients with residual LVEF < 35%, approximately a quarter will improve at least 10% in their follow-up LVEF, and there were no clear echocardiographic predictors for this improvement.