Site and Sequelae of Myocardial Infarction

New and improved noninvasive techniques have provided better understanding of the factors that determine the outcome of acute myocardial infarction. In a study described in this issue of the Journal, Asinger et al. used two-dimensional echocardiography to demonstrate that left ventricular thrombi were identifiable in one third of 35 patients with anterior-wall transmural infarction but in none of 35 with inferior-wall infarcts.1 Nearly half the patients with severe anteroapical involvement had left ventricular thrombi. Thus, through the unique ability to correlate the appearance of thrombi over time with regional changes in wall function, echocardiographically detectable left ventricular thrombi were . . .