Postoperative investigation of left ventricular aneurysm resection

We reviewed 35 patients undergoing resection of a chronic postinfarction left ventricular aneurysm. There was 5.7% operative mortality. Of the long-term survivors, 80% are functional class I or II. Ten patients had postoperative left ventriculograms studied by means of a computerized analysis of endocardial motion using internal orthogonal and radial grids. Postoperative end-diastolic volumes were much greater than normal and large akinetic areas were present although there was good improvement in the patient's functional capacity. Grid analysis of endocardial motion correlated better with the patient's postoperative clinical status than did measurements of end-diastolic pressure and volume, ejection fraction, or visual inspection of the postoperative left ventriculogram.