Value and Limitations of Systolic Time Intervals (Preejection Period and Ejection Time) In Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction

T HREE RECENT reports in this journal'-3 provide information on systolic time intervals in a total of 167 patients with acute myocardial infaretion. It would seem, then, that a sufficient number of observations are available to permit critical assessment and meaningful conclusions. Are the data from these sources consistent and the results comparable? What are recordings of systolic time intervals in acute myocardial infaretion designed to accomplish? What can currently be said of their value and limitations? Let us first examine the setting in which these studies were undertaken.