The heart muscle and the electrocardiogram in coronary disease. III. A new classification of ventricular myocardial damage derived from the clinicopathologic findings in 100 patients (part two)

Methods, designed to study in detail the lesions resulting from coronary disease and to reconstruct accurately the form of all ventricular muscle lesions, have been applied to 100 consecutive electrocardiographed patients who were found to have at least one severe coronary narrowing. Reclassification of lesions into four categories was found necessary to deal with the patterns of damage disclosed. This approach permits conclusions regarding evolution of muscle damage, relationships of arterial obstruction to muscle damage distribution, and the significance of ischemia which would have been impossible otherwise. The value of the new classification for electrocardiography will be discussed in a subsequent section of the report.