Objectives .– The right ventricle infarction (RVI) may complicate 40 to 50% of inferior myocardial infarction. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the contribution of echocardiography to detect right ventricle ischemia during an inferior myocardial infarction.

Patients and methods .– This is a prospective study including all patients hospitalized for a first inferior myocardial infarction (P group) between January 2010 and November 2010. A right ventricle infarction was defined by an ST elevation of 1 mm or more in right leads (V3R, V4R). All patients underwent Doppler echocardiography during the first 48 hours and were compared to healthy subjects (S group).

Results .– The average age of our patients was 59.94 ± 13 years with a male predominance. Ten patients had electrical extension to the right ventricle (32.25%). The echocardiographic study of right ventricular function showed a significantly lower systolic function in patients than in healthy subjects (right ventricle ejection fraction: P group = 51.13%, S group= 66%, P < 0.001). The movement of the tricuspid annulus TAPSE was significantly lower in patients than healthy subjects (P group = 16.24 mm, S group = 21.32 mm, P < 0.001). Among patients, the TAPSE was significantly lower in case of RVI (RV+ = 12.22; RV− = 18.16, P < 0.001). Similarly, the systolic wave velocity at lateral wall of the tricuspid annulus was significantly reduced in patients compared to healthy subjects (P group = 12.13 cm/s, S group = 17.56 cm/s, P = 0.05), and was even lower in patients with RVI compared to the others patients (RV+ = 11.87 cm/s; RV− = 13.5 cm/s, P < 0.001).

Conclusion .– Our study demonstrates that the TAPSE and the systolic wave velocity at tricuspid annulus are simple methods for the early diagnosis of right ventricle ischemia during an inferior.