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Figure 4 Changes in Wall Thickening in Segments Subtended by a Stenosis and Remote Segments in the 3 Patient Groups

Each myocardial segment is represented by a circle at each time point, with larger circles denoting greater TEI. Mean ± standard error of the mean are displayed for each time point. Wall thickening in territories subtended by a CTO decreased significantly with increasing TEI. At baseline, CTO segments had worse contractility than remote segments. After successful CTO PCI, wall thickening in treated segments improved, such that, after simultaneous adjustment of wall thickening by TEI, the differences between treated segments and remote segments were no longer significant at 24 and 6 months after PCI. Improvement in contractility was less likely in segments with greater TEI before PCI. In patients scheduled for non-CTO PCI, wall thickening improved only at 6 months, relative to baseline. There was no change in wall thickening in untreated CTO segments or remote segments. Untreated CTO segments had significantly worse wall thickening than treated CTO segments at 6-month follow-up. *p < 0.01 for comparison with baseline; p < 0.01 for comparison between stenosed and remote segments at the same time point; p < 0.05 for comparison with CTO PCI group at the same time point. Abbreviations as in Figure 1.