Prediction of the infarct-related artery in acute myocardial infarction by a scoring system using summary ST-segment and T-wave changes

Am J Cardiol. 1996 Aug 15;78(4):389-95. doi: 10.1016/s0002-9149(96)00325-6.

Abstract

We developed a scoring system to predict the artery responsible for an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) using ST-segment and T-wave changes on the initial electrocardiogram (ECG) using data from 228 patients (development set) with symptoms compatible with AMI and tested in a similar group of 223 patients (test set) from the Thrombolysis and Angioplasty in Myocardial Infarction (TAMI-5) Trial. Using stepwise logistic regression we were able to accurately predict the left anterior descending (LAD), right, or left circumflex (LC) coronary artery as the infarct-related artery using 2 variables: (1) the summation of the ST-segment elevation in leads V1 to V4; and (2) the summation of the T-wave negativity in leads I, aVL, and V5. In the development set, these 2 variables demonstrated respective sensitivity and specificity of 98% and 90% for LAD lesions, 82% and 85% for right narrowings, and 82% and 84% for LC narrowings. In the test set, the sensitivity and specificity were 97% and 95% for LAD lesions, 85% and 86% for right lesions, and 73% and 60% for LC coronary artery lesions. Information easily obtained on the ECG can accurately predict the likelihood of the LAD, right, or LC artery as the infarct-related artery. This may be useful in the decision to administer thrombolytic treatment.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Multicenter Study
  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Coronary Disease / diagnosis
  • Coronary Disease / pathology
  • Coronary Vessels / pathology*
  • Electrocardiography / methods*
  • Electrocardiography / statistics & numerical data
  • Female
  • Forecasting
  • Humans
  • Logistic Models
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Myocardial Infarction / drug therapy
  • Myocardial Infarction / pathology*
  • ROC Curve
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Thrombolytic Therapy
  • Treatment Outcome