Mapping-guided endocardial resection has proved to be an effective therapy for recurrent sustained ventricular tachycardia. However, some patients cannot be mapped during ventricular tachycardia, so that guidance from findings during normal sinus rhythm would be highly desirable. We examined the frequency, timing, and duration of several abnormal types of electrograms recorded endocardially during sinus rhythm and related these findings to activation mapping during sustained ventricular tachycardia. Thirteen patients with extensive myocardial infarction complicated by recurrent sustained ventricular tachycardia were studied intraoperatively during sinus rhythm and induced ventricular tachycardia with a standardized mapping scheme involving the entire endocardial surface. Fractionated electrograms (multicomponent with amplitude less than 1 mV and duration greater than 50 msec) were recorded in all patients. This type of electrogram could be recorded at up to 36% of mapped sites. Split electrograms (two components separated by isoelectric period) were also frequently seen but involved only a mean of 5.8% of mapped sites. Late electrograms (inscribed entirely after the QRS complex) were only recorded in four of 13 patients at a mean of 5% of mapped sites. The location of these electrograms was related to an arbitrary 8 cm2 zone around the earliest site of endocardial activation recorded during ventricular tachycardia. The longest fractionated electrogram was closely related to nine of 22 morphologies of induced ventricular tachycardia, split electrograms were related to seven of 16 morphologies, and late electrograms to two of four morphologies. We have concluded that extremely abnormal electrograms recorded endocardially during sinus rhythm are widespread in patients with extensive myocardial infarction complicated by ventricular tachycardia.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)