Grade 3 ischemia on the admission electrocardiogram predicts rapid progression of necrosis over time and less myocardial salvage by primary angioplasty
Background: Among patients with ST-elevation acute myocardial infarction, those with terminal QRS distortion (grade 3 ischemia) have higher mortality and larger infarct size (IS) than patients without QRS distortion (grade 2 ischemia). Methods: We assessed the relation of baseline electrocardiographic ischemia grades to area at risk (AR) and myocardial salvage [100 (AR - IS)/AR] in 79 patients who