Proximal left anterior descending coronary heart disease and complex ventricular arrhythmias

In this study, 87 consecutive patients with angiographically proven coronary artery disease (CAD, stenosis >75%) underwent 24‐h Holter monitoring, 76 of them having had transmural myocardial infarction, a mean of five months before evaluation. Of the total, 51 patients showed single‐vessel disease, in 31 (61%) of them with involvement of the left anterior descending (LAD) artery. In 26 patients with proximal LAD stenosis or occlusion and usually large aneurysms and subsequently impaired left ventricular function relatively low prevalence of significant ventricular premature contraction (VPC, Lown (III) was seen. On the contrary in 19 patients with multivessel disease and proximal LAD stenosis advanced forms of VPCs were present in 63% (p<0.01). Further both groups differed significantly in the frequency of postinfarction angina (30% vs. 100%; p<0.001) and their incidence in positive exercise stress tests (15% vs. 84%; p<0.001). Ejection fractions were comparable in both groups (mean 45% vs. 52%). Finally 17 patients with multivessel disease but without proximal LAD lesion did not differ in any of the above mentioned parameters, when compared to the patients with single‐vessel disease and proximal LAD stenosis. We conclude that impaired left ventricular function does not sufficiently explain the high risk of sudden death in postmyocardial infarction patients. The coronary and functional status of the surviving myocardium has to be taken into consideration as well.