The role of echocardiography in acute myocardial infarction.

Our institutional experience with two-dimensional echocardiography and color flow Doppler tests, as well as a review of the literature, reveals that echocardiography is useful in diagnosing myocardial infarction. Furthermore, complications of myocardial infarction such as mitral regurgitation with or without papillary muscle rupture, acquired ventricular septal defect, true and false left ventricular aneurysms, left ventricular thrombi, right ventricular infarction, and pericardial effusion in the setting of acute infarction can be detected by cardiac ultrasound. Echocardiography is also useful in assessing prognosis of postinfarction patients based on degree of left ventricular dysfunction. This test, however, is not 100% sensitive and specific in diagnosing these entities and should be reviewed in context of a patient's history, physical findings, and other laboratory tests.