Epicardial wall motion and left ventricular function during coronary graft angioplasty in humans

Epicardial wall motion and left ventricular function changes during temporary coronary artery occlusion were assessed in a patient at the time of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty performed on a previously placed stenotic coronary artery bypass graft. Epicardial wall motion was analyzed using biplane cineradiography with frame to frame measurements of distances between pairs of radiopaque epicardial markers placed at the time of previous cardiac surgery. Bypass graft occlusion after initial dilation led to the early onset of a biphasic epicardial late systolic lengthening and early diastolic shortening similar to the regional wall motion abnormality preceding the procedure.