Recovery of Ventricular Function after Myocardial Infarction in the Reperfusion Era: The Healing and Early Afterload Reducing Therapy Study

Significant myocardial stunning with subsequent improvement of ventricular function occurred in the majority of patients after Q-wave anterior myocardial infarction. A lower peak level of creatine kinase, an estimate of the extent of necrosis, is independently predictive of recovery of function. Early functional assessment (day 1 after acute myocardial infarction) had limited ability to predict recovery of ventricular function.