Relationship Between Infarct Tissue Characteristics and Left Ventricular Remodeling in Patients With Versus Without Early Revascularization for Acute Myocardial Infarction as Assessed With Contrast-Enhanced Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Left ventricular (LV) remodeling following myocardial infarction (MI) is the result of complex interactions between various factors, including presence or absence of early revascularization. The impact of early revascularization on the relationship between infarct tissue characteristics and LV remodeling is incompletely known. Therefore, we investigated in patients with versus without successful early revascularization for acute MI potential relations between infarct tissue characteristics and LV remodeling with contrast-enhanced (CE) cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). Patients with versus without successful early revascularization underwent CE-CMR for tissue characterization and assessment of LV remodeling including end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes, LV ejection fraction, and wall motion score index (WMSI). CE-CMR images were analyzed for infarct tissue characteristics including core-, peri- and total-infarct size, transmural extent, and regional scar scores. In early revascularized patients (n = 46), a larger area of infarct tissue correlated significantly with larger LV dimensions and a more reduced LV function (r = 0.39-0.68; all P <= 0.01). Multivariate analyses identified pen-infarct size as the best predictor of LV remodeling parameters (R-2 = 0.44-0.62). In patients without successful early revascularization (n = 47), there was no correlation between infarct area and remodeling parameters; only pen-infarct size versus WMSI (r = 0.33; P = 0.03) and transmural extent versus LVEF (r = -0.27; P = 0.07) tended to be related. A correlation between infarct tissue characteristics and LV remodeling was found only in patients with early successful revascularization. Pen-infarct size was found to be the best determinant of LV remodeling. Our findings stress the importance of taking into account infarct tissue characteristics and success of revascularization when LV remodeling is studied. (Int Heart J 2012; 53: 263-269)