Prognostic Value of Various Clinical and Electrocardiographic Features of Acute Myocardial Infarction

In recent years there has been a growing appreciation of the fact that not only do patients recover from acute myocardial infarction but often they can return to a reasonably normal way of life for some years. In his report in 1912, Herrick 1 pointed out that myocardial infarction was not necessarily fatal. However, for the next fifteen years, emphasis was placed on the clinical and the electrocardiographic diagnosis of this disease, and not until recently was attention directed to the course of those patients who survived an acute episode. Interest was no doubt stimulated by isolated reports 2 of persons who lived long and active lives after recovering from an acute attack. In this connection, it is interesting to note that Ryle 3 inferred, from Sir Everard Home's accounts, that John Hunter lived for twenty years after a typical acute coronary occlusion. However, as Levine 4 and Levy 5