A preliminary study on the diagnostic value of magnetic resonance imaging in old myocardial infarction

MRI manifestations in 9 patients with old myocardial infarction (OMI) were analyzed and the results were compared with the changes seen in ECG (9 patients) and coronary angiography (6 patients). The authors found that: 1. Myocardial thinning was one of the important signs of OMI (78%); 2. Signal intensity was reduced which was remarkably lower than the adjacent normal myocardium (P less than 0.01). 3. MRI provided even more direct and accurate information for assessing the site and extent of infarction than ECG; 4. The results of LVEF calculated from MRI were closely correlated with that obtained from left ventriculography (r = 0.8245, 0.01 less than P less than 0.05). The authors preliminarily conclude that MRI is an accurate method for evaluating the site and extent of myocardial infarction, myocardial tissue characterization and left ventricular function.