Clinical and electrophysiologic determinants, treatment and survival of patients with sustained malignant ventricular tachyarrhythmias occurring late after myocardial infarction

To assess the clinical and electrophysiologic determinants, treatment and survival of patients with sustained malignant ventricular tachyarrhythmias late after myocardial infarction, a total of 108 patients (mean age 61 ± 10 years) were studied. Thirty-two patients (Group I) had sustained ventricular tachyarrhythmias 8 to 60 days (mean 13 ± 9) after acute myocardial infarction. The remaining 76 patients (Group II), who served as a control group, had no sustained ventricular tachyarrhythmias ≤60 days after infarction. The most significant independent determinants of sustained ventricular tachyarrhythmias late after infarction were the presence of late potentials (chi square = 16.07, p = 0.0001), defined as an abnormal signal-averaged QRS complex in association with an abnormal root-mean-square voltage in the terminal 40 ms of the QRS complex, and an abnormal ejection fraction of