USE OF THE QRS SCORING SYSTEM IN THE EARLY ESTIMATION OF MYOCARDIAL INFARCT SIZE FOLLOWING REPERFUSION

While the QRS scoring system has been established as a convenient tool for estimating infarct size in nonreperfused patients during the chro nic stage of myocardial infarction, its applicability to reperfused pa tients in the acute stage has not been established. To investigate whe ther infarct size could be estimated by the QRS scoring system soon af ter reperfusion, we evaluated QRS scores obtained serially 6 hours to 1 month after reperfusion, total creatine kinase release, and left ven tricular ejection fraction in 126 patients with acute myocardial infar ction who underwent successful reperfusion therapy. A significant corr elation was observed between the QRS score obtained after 6 hours and that obtained after 1 month (r = .89). The QRS scores obtained after 6 hours and 1 month were significantly correlated with total creatine k inase release (r = -.65 and r = -.75, respectively) and left ventricul ar ejection fraction (r = .62 and r = .76, respectively). Thus, the QR S scoring system can be used as a simple and economical method for est imation of infarct size soon after reperfusion.