Viability of Q-wave infarcted myocardium with restored positive and persistent negative T waves after optimal revascularization compared with dobutamine stress echocardiography

To clarify the clinical difference in viability of myocardium with negative and positive T waves in Q-wave anterior or anteroseptal myocardial infarction, we performed low-dose dobutamine stress echocardiography in 17 patients with negative T waves and in 13 patients with positive T waves with optimal revascularization of infarct-related arteries in the chronic phase of infarction. At baseline the wall motion score (WMS) of the negative and positive T groups was 25.8 ± 3.0 and 22.3 ± 2.2 points (p <0.05), respectively. At peak stress WMS in each group was 27.2 ± 4.2 and 19.8 ± 2.4 points (p <0.0001), respectively. With dobutamine stress WMS in the positive T group was more decreased than that of the negative T group (p <0.0001). We conclude that the restored positive T waves in Q-wave myocardial infarction indicate a significantly greater amount of viable myocardium than the negative T waves, showing better regional wall motion improvement with low-dose dobutamine stress.