[Late potentials as risk parameters after heart infarct]. / Spätpotentiale als Risikoparameter nach Herzinfarkt.

ABSTRACT

Sustained ventricular tachycardias and sudden death can pose a threat to post-infarction patients. Patients at risk cannot be identified with adequate reliability with Holter monitoring or programmed ventricular stimulation. Late potentials arise as a result of delayed excitation in the marginal region of an infarct and reflect structural myocardial changes that represent the precondition for circus movement. Special methods have been developed to detect these potentials, which on the surface of the body are very small (1-10 microV). These potentials can be found in 70-80% of post-infarction patients with sustained ventricular tachycardias or fibrillation, but are rarely seen in MI patients with no arrhythmia. Late potential analysis represents a promising method of assessing the arrhythmogenic risk of post-infarction patients.