Assessment of arrhythmias in myocardial infarction.

Continuous monitoring of patients with acute myocardial infarction has demonstrated the frequent occurrence of arrhythmias in the first few days after the acute episode (Julian et al., 1964a; Robinson et al., 1964; Meltzer and Kitchell, 1966; Goble et al., 1966). It is claimed that the mortality of myocardial infarction increases when accompanied by arrhythmias (Rosenbaum and Levine, 1941; Imperial et al., 1960; Julian et al., 1964b). The prognosis of myocardial infarction when accompanied by specific arrhythmias has so far been determined without allowing for variables such as the severity of the patient's illness and the presence of other additional arrhythmias. Overall mortality figures thus may give an