The Relationship between Time from Myocardial Infarction, Left Ventricular Dyssynchrony, and the Risk for Ventricular Arrhythmia: Speckle-Tracking Echocardiographic Analysis

BACKGROUND: Differences in arrhythmogenic substrate may explain the variable efficacy of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) in primary sudden cardiac death prevention over time after myocardial infarction (MI). Speckle-tracking echocardiography allows the assessment left ventricular (LV) dyssynchrony, which may reflect the electromechanical heterogeneity of myocardial tissue. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the …