The Prognostic Value of Echocardiographic Wall Motion Score Index in ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Background. When compared to left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), previous studies have suggested the superiority of wall motion score index (WMSI) in predicting cardiac events in patients who have suffered acute myocardial infarction. However, there are limited studies assessing WMSI and mortality in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). We aimed to compare the prognostic value of WMSI in a cohort of STEMI patients treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods. A comparison of WMSI, LVEF, and all-cause mortality in STEMI patients treated with primary PCI between January 2008 and December 2020 was performed. The prognostic value of WMSI, LVEF, and traditional risk scores (TIMI, GRACE) were compared using multivariable logistic regression modelling. Results. Among 1181 patients, 27 died within 30-days (2.3%) and 49 died within 12 months (4.2%). WMSI ≥1.8 was associated with poorer survival at 12-months (9.2% vs 1.5%; <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1"> <a:mi>p</a:mi> <a:mo><</a:mo> <a:mn>0.001</a:mn> </a:math> ). When used as the only classifier for predicting 12-month mortality, the discriminatory ability of WMSI (area under the curve (AUC): 0.77; 95% CI: 0.68–0.84) was significantly better than LVEF (AUC: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.61–0.79; <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M2"> <c:mi>p</c:mi> <c:mo>=</c:mo> <c:mn>0.034</c:mn> </c:math> ). After multivariable modelling, the AUC was comparable between models with either WMSI (AUC: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.85–0.94) or LVEF (AUC: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.83–0.92; <e:math xmlns:e="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M3"> <e:mi>p</e:mi> <e:mo><</e:mo> <e:mn>0.08</e:mn> </e:math> ) yet performed significantly better than TIMI (AUC: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.62–0.79; <g:math xmlns:g="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M4"> <g:mi>p</g:mi> <g:mo><</g:mo> <g:mn>0.001</g:mn> </g:math> ), or GRACE (AUC: 0.63; 95% CI: 0.54–0.71; <i:math xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M5"> <i:mi>p</i:mi> <i:mo><</i:mo> <i:mn>0.001</i:mn> </i:math> ) risk scores. Conclusions. When examined individually, WMSI is a superior predictor of 12-month mortality over LVEF in STEMI patients treated with primary PCI. When examined in multivariable predictive models, WMSI and LVEF perform very well at predicting 12-month mortality, especially when compared to existing STEMI risk scores.