Evaluation of Patients after Acute Myocardial Infarction

Abstract

AN important question facing physicians today is whether to recommend cardiac catheterization to the patient who has just had an acute myocardial infarction. Although it has long been recognized that information obtained from cardiac catheterization regarding left ventricular function and cardiac anatomy can provide important prognostic information, this alone has not been considered sufficient reason to catheterize all post-infarction patients. Recent reports, however, have demonstrated that coronary-artery-bypass surgery improves survival in certain subgroups of patients with stable coronary-artery disease as identified by coronary angiography. This improved survival has been demonstrated most convincingly in patients with critical narrowing of the left . . .