Right ventricular function in isolated occlusion of left anterior descending coronary artery.

Background: Previous studies in this field have not excluded right coronary artery disease by coronary angiography and have included patients with co-morbid conditions that have independent impact on right ventricular function.

Methods: 14 patients with left ventricular (LV) anterior myocardial infarction (MI) due to isolated occlusion of left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) on coronary angiography were studied. 14 normal persons matched for age, body mass index (BMI), pulse rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) were evaluated as controls. All conditions that could independently affect right ventricular (RV) function were strictly excluded. Detailed 2-Dimensional (2-D), M-mode, pulse wave Doppler and tissue Doppler evaluation (DTI) of LV and RV was performed.

Results: Patients of LV anterior MI due to isolated occlusion of LAD had impairment of diastolic DTI parameters in all segments of RV. Impairment of systolic DTI parameters was seen only along Tricuspid annulus, lateral and anterior wall of RV. There was significant linear correlation between systolic and diastolic function parameters of the two ventricles.

Conclusions: Presence of common myocardial fibers encircling the two ventricles (Myofibril interaction) can explain these observations. More research is needed to find exact explanation of observed findings.