Is it Still Important to Evaluate Patients with Ischemic Cardiomyopathy for Viable Dysfunctional Myocardium Prior to Myocardial Revascularization?

In this issue of Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine, Kalra and colleagues [1] provide a state of the art summary of the contemporary approaches available to evaluate myocardial viability and address the increasingly controversial question as to whether it is still clinically relevant in the management of patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy. The historical view and answer to this question would be a resounding yes! The presence of viable dysfunctional myocardium in patients with severely depressed left ventricular function has been used to identify a subgroup of patients that had left ventricular dysfunction on the basis of chronic repetitive ischemia who were previously felt to have irreversible scar [2].
Source: Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine - Category: Cardiology Authors: Source Type: research