Echocardiographic features of congestive cardiomyopathy compared with normal subjects and patients with coronary artery disease.

Echocardiograms of ten patients with congestive cardiomyopathy were compared to those of three groups of patients: (1) 17 with no catheterization or angiographic evidence of cardiac disease; (2) 19 with 75% or greater obstruction of one or more coronary arteries (CAD); and (3) 8 with previous myocardial infarction and congestive heart failure (CAD-CHF). Echocardiographic values of interest included the left ventricular internal dimension at end-diastole/body surface area (LVIDd index), the amplitudes of the left septal echo (LSa) and posterior endocardial echo (ENa), LSa + ENa, and the maximum rate of rise of the posterior en-