The study demonstrates a temporal disparity between electrical recovery and mechanical recovery (which persists longer) following transient myocardial ischemia, an early description of myocardial stunning.
Transient (20 min) occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery in open-chest anaesthetized dogs caused immediate aneurysmal bulging of the ischaemic segment, which preceded epicardial ST-segment elevation. Reperfusion after 20 min restored epicardial electrograms to normal, wheras mechanical dysfunction persisted for a least 45 min therafter. The study shows that there is temporal disparity between electrical and mechanical events both at the inception of myocardial ischaemia and during recovery from transient myocardial ischaemia.
Weiner et al. (Mon,) studied this question.