Natural History of Severe Left Ventricular Dysfunction after Myocardial Infarction

The prevalence and prognosis of severe left ventricular dysfunction after infarction was prospectively analyzed in a series of 259 male patients aged 60 years or less surviving an acute myocardial infarction. All patients underwent coronary angiography 30 days after the acute event and were followed up for a mean period of 34 months (range, 15 to 55 months). Forty-five patients (17 percent) were found to have severe left ventricular dysfunction (ejection fraction ≤30 percent). Comparison of patients with and without severe impairment of left ventricular function showed the former to have a lower cardiac index (p