[Infarct-induced changes in the left ventricular myocardium detected by cardiac computed tomography]

The aim of the present study was to compare left ventricular myocardial changes due to infarcts, as seen by computed tomography (CT), with the clinically well recognised methods, such as electrocardiography and angiocardiography. Our first group consisted of 57 patients with a clinical diagnosis of coronary heart disease, the second group comprised 19 patients with various cardiac abnormalities. The two groups were included in 530 CT examinations of the heart. The sensitivity of CT, compared with the other methods, was 77-100%, its specificity 50-100% in the first group, which had an infarct frequency of 71-82%. In this group a positive predictive value was found in 80-100%. The second group of patients had an infarct prevalence of 13-18% and a positive predictive value of 50-100%. Sensitivity in this group rose to 100% and specificity to 86-100%.