Nonfatal myocardial infarction in medically treated patients with coronary artery disease

The purpose of this study was to identify patient characteristics associated with nonfatal myocardial infarction as the first event after cardiac catheterization in medically treated patients with coronary artery disease. Multiple logistic risk analyste of 81 baseline characteristics in 354 patients who died or had nonfatal infarction identified 10 characteristics (5 clinical and 5 cardiac catheterization variables) as independently discriminating between the two events. Left ventricular function, specific coronary anatomy, previous myocardial infarction and age were the most important discriminators. Poor left ventricular function and left main coronary stenosis were associated with death. Subtotal left anterior descending and right coronary arterial stenosis, normal hemodynamics, absence of previous infarction and young age were associated with nonfatal infarction. Thus, in any subset of patients who have a uniform risk of ischemic events (nonfatal infarction or death), nonfatal infarction is most likely to occur in those who are young, have had no previous infarction, have subtotal left anterior descending and right coronary arterial stenosis and normal hemodynamics.     

Chronic kidney disease and long-term outcomes of myocardial infarction

Background

Although chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, information about myocardial infarction (MI) with CKD is limited in the acute revascularization era.

Methods

To clarify the relationship between CKD and long-term outcomes of MI, consecutive 4550 patients with acute MI treated at 17 participating hospitals were analyzed. The primary study outcome was death from any cause, and a secondary endpoint was the first appearance major adverse cardiovascular events.

Results

Acute revascularization therapies were performed in 75.2% of the patients and the mean left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was 53%. The median follow-up was 4.1 years (follow-up rate, 95.2%). Patients were divided into four categories (< 45.0, 45.0 to 59.9, 60.0 to74.9, and ≥ 75.0 mL/min per 1.73 m² of body-surface area) according to the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) estimated by the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease equation. A total of 1941 (42.7%) patients had an estimated GFR of < 60.0 mL/min per 1.73 m². Mortality rates increased with declining estimated GFR. Unadjusted hazard ratios for total and cardiovascular death in the group with an estimated GFR of 45.0 to 59.9 mL/min per 1.73 m² using the group with an estimated GFR of ≥ 75.0 mL/min per 1.73 m² as the reference were 1.63 (95% CI, 1.28 to 2.07) and 2.09 (95% CI, 1.45 to 3.01), respectively.

Conclusions

Even early-stage CKD should be considered a powerful risk factor for long-term cardiovascular death after acute MI with preserved LVEF in the acute revascularization era.     

Genetics of coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction

Atherosclerotic coronary artery disease(CAD) comprises a broad spectrum of clinical entities that include asymptomatic subclinical atherosclerosis and its clinical complications, such as angina pectoris, myocardial infarction(MI) and sudden cardiac death. CAD continues to be the leading cause of death in industrialized society. The long-recognized familial clustering of CAD suggests that genetics plays a central role in its development, with the heritability of CAD and MI estimated at approximately 50% to 60%. Understanding the genetic architecture of CAD and MI has proven to be difficult and costly due to the heterogeneity of clinical CAD and the underlying multi-decade complex pathophysiological processes that involve both genetic and environmental interactions. This review describes the clinical heterogeneity of CAD and MI to clarify the disease spectrum in genetic studies, provides a brief overview of the historical understanding and estimation of the heritability of CAD and MI, recounts major gene discoveries of potential causal mutations in familial CAD and MI, summarizes CAD and MIassociated genetic variants identified using candidate gene approaches and genome-wide association studies(GWAS), and summarizes the current status of the construction and validations of genetic risk scores for lifetime risk prediction and guidance for preventive strategies. Potential protective genetic factors against the development of CAD and MI are also discussed. Finally, GWAS have identified multiple genetic factors associated with an increased risk of in-stent restenosis following stent placement for obstructive CAD. This review will also address genetic factors associated with in-stent restenosis, which may ultimately guide clinical decision-making regarding revascularization strategies for patients with CAD and MI.     

Kawasaki disease, myocardial infarction and coronary artery revascularization

Kawasaki disease (KD) is the leading cause of acquired pediatric heart disease in North America and Japan. Cardiac sequelae, such as coronary artery aneurysms and myocardial infarction, are the major causes of the morbidity and mortality associated with KD. Three case scenarios are described illustrating the wide range of clinical presentations of myocardial ischemia in children after acute KD, varying from asymptomatic to fatal myocardial infarction. In addition, the present paper provides a review of the literature on myocardial infarction in association with KD and various modalities of coronary artery revascularization in children with myocardial ischemia secondary to KD.     

Mechanisms of myocardial infarction without obstructive coronary artery disease

Angiography in patients with myocardial infarction (MI) most commonly reveals one or more significantly narrowed coronary arteries, but a substantial minority of patients with spontaneous MI have no obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) at angiography. This review summarizes evidence for the most commonly hypothesized mechanisms, including plaque disruption, plaque erosion, vasospasm, embolism, and spontaneous coronary dissection. In addition, tako-tsubo syndrome and myocarditis are discussed. The best treatment of MI without obstructive CAD is likely to differ substantially based on the underlying cause. Additional mechanistic research is needed to facilitate the design of research studies aimed at documenting the best treatments for these patients, numbering as many as 225,000 per year in the US.     

Heterogeneity of coronary blood flow in human coronary artery disease and experimental myocardial infarction

Although abnormalities of coronary flow are no doubt importantly related to mechanisms producing sudden death in myocardial infarction, the evaluation of coronary flow in the presence of coronary artery disease is difficult. Ideally one desires an accurate measurement of average flow and a quantitative assessment of the manner in which flow is distributed within the heart. Average coronary flow has been reported to be the same in individuals with and without coronary artery disease. Possible explanations for the lack of a discrepancy include arteriolar dilatation sufficient to maintain normal flow at rest, reductions in volume of areas of low flow and wide variations of flow within individual groups. An equally plausible alternative is that reported measurements of flow in coronary disease are incorrectly high because of limitations of conventional methods for assessing heterogeneous flow. When employing inert gas technics, methods of test gas delivery and blood gas analysis must be adequate for areas of below average flow. When appropriate methods are utilized, areas of below average flow appear to be demonstrable in human coronary artery disease and experimental myocardial infarction. The inclusion of these areas alters the calculation of average flow significantly. Areas of below average flow may be uniquely important in the clinical manifestations of coronary artery disease.     

Clinical outcomes of everolimus- and zotarolimus-eluting stents in patients with acute myocardial infarction for small coronary artery disease

Background and purposeThere were limited data about comparison of zotarolimus-eluting stents (ZES) and everolimus-eluting stents (EES) in patients with small coronary artery disease (CAD), especially in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The objective of this study was to compare the clinical outcomes of ZES and EES in patients with AMI for small CAD.Methods and subjectsA total 1565 AMI patients treated with Endeavor-ZES (n = 651) (Medtronic CardioVascular, Santa Rosa, CA, USA) or Xience V/Promus-EES (n = 914) (Abbott Vascular, Temecula, CA/Boston Scientific, Natick, MA, USA) for small CAD (stent diameter ≤2.75 mm) in KAMIR (Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry) were enrolled. After propensity score matching to adjust for baseline clinical and angiographic characteristics, we compared a total 1302 patients (651 ZES and 651 EES) about major adverse cardiac events (MACE) at 1-year. Subgroup analysis about 1-year clinical outcomes was undertaken in patients who were discharged alive.ResultsBaseline clinical and angiographic characteristics were similar between the two groups after propensity score matching. Total MACE did not differ between the two groups before (9.8% vs. 8.2%, p = 0.265) and after (9.8% vs. 9.4%, p = 0.778) propensity score matching. The EES group showed lower rate of 1-year cardiac death (5.4% vs. 3.3%, p = 0.041), target lesion failure (TLF; 6.9% vs. 4.3%, p = 0.022), and stent thrombosis (1.4% vs. 0.4%, p = 0.042) compared with the ZES group. However, there were no differences in 1-year cardiac death, TLF, and stent thrombosis in propensity score matched populations. Other various 1-year clinical outcomes showed no difference between the two groups. Subgroup analysis in patients who were discharged alive showed similar outcomes between the two groups at 1-year follow-up.ConclusionIn-this propensity score matched analysis, EES and ZES showed no significant difference in clinical outcomes at 1-year follow-up in patients with AMI for small CAD.     

In-hospital and long-term outcomes of multivessel percutaneous coronary revascularization after acute myocardial infarction

Multivessel percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) early after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is discouraged because of the potential for increased complications. However, with recent advances in PCI, the safety and long-term outcomes of multivessel PCI are unknown. We evaluated the outcomes of multivessel PCI early after AMI (ST-elevation and non-ST-elevation AMI). We identified all patients who had multivessel disease and underwent PCI within 7 days after an AMI from 1997 to 2002. Clinical outcomes were compared between patients who underwent multivessel PCI (n = 239) and patients who underwent treatment of the infarct-related artery alone (n = 1,145). The primary end point was cumulative survival at 6, 12, and 36 months. Secondary end points included a composite of mortality, recurrent infarction, coronary artery bypass graft, or target vessel revascularization at the same time points. There were 138 deaths and 351 occurrences of the composite end point during follow-up. The multivessel PCI group had a significantly higher prevalence of adverse prognostic indicators. Despite this, observed event rates were similar between the multivessel PCI and 1-vessel PCI groups. The Kaplan-Meier estimated 1-year survival was 0.91 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.87 to 0.95) for the multivessel PCI group and 0.93 (95% CI 0.92 to 0.95) for the 1-vessel PCI group (p = 0.43). Similarly, 1-year survival free of recurrent infarction and target vessel revascularization rates were similar between the 2 groups: multivessel PCI 0.78 (95% CI 0.73 to 0.84) and 1-vessel PCI 0.78 (95% CI 0.75 to 0.81). Multivessel PCI in patients with multivessel coronary artery disease after AMI compared with 1-vessel PCI was not associated with an excess risk of death or of combined death, myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass graft, or target vessel revascularization.     

Effect of coronary artery revascularization on in-hospital outcomes and long-term prognoses in acute myocardial infarction patients with prior is-chemic stroke

Objective To investigate whether coronary artery revascularization therapies (CART), including percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), can improve the in-hospital and long-term outcomes for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients with prior ischemic stroke (IS). Methods A total of 387 AMI patients with prior IS were enrolled consecutively from January 15, 2005 to December 24, 2011 in this cohort study. All patients were categorized into the CART group (n = 204) or the conservative medications (CM) group (n = 183). In-hospital cardiocerebral events and long-term mortality of the two groups after an average follow-up of 36 months were recorded by Kaplan-Meier survival curves and compared by Logistic regression and the Cox regression model. Results The CART patients were younger (66.5 ± 9.7 years vs. 71.7 ± 9.7 years, P < 0.01), had less non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (11.8% vs. 20.8%, P = 0.016) and more multiple-vascular coronary lesions (50% vs. 69.4%, P = 0.031). The hospitalization incidence of cardiocerebral events in the CART group was 9.3% while 26.2% in the CM group (P < 0.01). CART significantly reduced the risk of in-hospital cardiocerebral events by 65% [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 0.35, 95% CI: 0.13–0.92]. By the end of follow-up, 57 cases (41.6%) died in CM group (n = 137) and 24 cases (12.2%) died in CART group (n = 197). Cox regression indicated that CART decreased the long-term mortality by 72% [adjusted hazard ratio (HR) = 0.28, 95% CI: 0.06–0.46], while categorical analysis indicated no significant difference between PCI and CABG. Conclusions CART has a significant effect on improving the in-hospital and long-term prognoses for AMI patients with prior IS.     

Progress in unraveling the genetics of coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction

Atherosclerosis is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Coronary artery disease (CAD) and its clinical manifestation, myocardial infarction (MI), are equally determined by interacting environmental and (largely unknown) multigenic factors. Genome-wide and candidate gene searches for single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) associations with CAD/MI (ie, coronary heart disease) often have resulted in nonreproducible or weak associations. Associations with intermediate surrogates have not ensured clinical event predictions. Linked SNP groups (haplotypes) can be more informative than individual SNPs unless the functional gene variant is known with certainty. Recent results of genetic association studies challenge the “common disease-common variant” hypothesis and suggest that multiple, relatively uncommon alleles often determine variation in coronary risk factors (eg, low high-density lipoprotein). Genetic risk scores, generated by considering several functional SNPs or haplotypes in multiple genes within a biologic pathway implicated in coronary heart disease, could improve predictive ability. Despite the complexity of coronary heart disease genetics, steady progress can be expected.     

Severity of coronary artery disease among blacks with acute myocardial infarction

A growing body of evidence suggests that survival after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is considerably worse among blacks than whites. The severity of coronary artery disease (CAD), as measured by the number of diseased vessels and the degree of left ventricular dysfunction, is the major determinant of survival after AMI. To determine whether or not the severity of CAD could explain the poor prognosis in a cohort of blacks followed at this institution, cardiac catheterization was performed in a consecutive series of 51 patients less than 70 years of age. All patients were studied within 2 weeks after AMI. The mean age of the patients was 56 +/- 8 (mean +/- standard deviation) and 71% were men. A greater than or equal to 50 narrowing in 0, 1, 2 or 3 coronary arteries was noted in 5, 24, 40 and 31%, respectively. Left main stenosis was present in 3 patients (6%) and the mean left ventricular ejection fraction was 55%. In a subgroup of 20 patients echocardiographic estimates of left ventricular mass/height yielded a mean of 196 g/m, and left ventricular hypertrophy on echocardiogram was present in 74%. These data indicate that among blacks with AMI in this series CAD was only modestly more severe than expected and suggest that other factors most likely explain the high mortality in blacks after hospital discharge.     

Congenital dextrocardia complicated by hypertension,coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction

The case record of a seventy-three year old man with congenital dextrocardia and situs inversus viscerum complicated by hypertension, coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction is presented. Electrocardiographic recordings of the limb leads, with and without reversal of the arm lead wires, and of the precordial leads of the V series derived from both right and left chest areas are presented. In this instance the electrocardiographic findings in precordial leads taken over the right chest point to fresh anteroseptal infarction; those leads recorded from the left chest were not informative. This serves to emphasize the fact that precordial leads should be recorded from the right side of the chest rather than the left in order that the exploring precordial electrode may overlie the area of cardiac damage, and thus manifest maximal changes in the electrocardiogram. We agree that the electrocardiogram may best be interpreted by application of the usual criteria to the limb leads taken with the arm lead wires reversed although in this case the limb leads yielded no information of diagnostic significance.     

血浆内源性sRAGE、esRAGE、cRAGE对冠心病及其并发急性心肌梗死的诊断价值

目的:探讨血浆可溶性晚期糖基化终末产物受体(sRAGE)、内源性分泌型晚期糖基化终末产物受体(esRAGE)、裂解型晚期糖基化终末产物受体(cRAGE)是否为冠心病及其并发急性心肌梗死的诊断指标.方法:选择2009-03-2009-05我院心内科住院进行冠状动脉造影检查的患者,包括非冠心病组(Ⅰ组,16例)、冠心病非心肌梗死组(Ⅱ组,22例)、冠心病急性心肌梗死组(Ⅲ组,16例),ELISA方法检测血浆sRAGE、esRAGE浓度,两者浓度之差为cRAGE浓度.结果:Ⅲ组sRAGE、esRAGE、cRAGE水平高于Ⅱ组(P<0.01)和Ⅰ组,P<0.01;Ⅲ组cRAGE分别与cTNI(P=0.009)和CK-MB(P=0.015)成正相关;sRAGE、esRAGE、cRAGE水平在Ⅱ组和Ⅰ组差异无统计学意义(P>0.05);运用ROC曲线评价sRAGE、esRAGE、cRAGE对冠心病患者并发急性心肌梗死的诊断价值,曲线下面积分别为0.855(P=0.000)、0.770(P=0.005)、0.818(P=0.001),sRAGE、esRAGE、cRAGE诊断急性心肌梗死灵敏度分别为75%、62.5%、68.8%,特异性分别为86.4%、90.9%、90.9%.结论:血浆sRAGE、esRAGE、cRAGE可能为冠心病患者并发急性心肌梗死的诊断指标.     

Repetitive myocardial infarction in a young woman with vasospastic coronary artery disease

The angiographic study of a young woman with previous anteriormyocardial infarction and normal coronary arteries is presented.During coronary angiography the patient had multiple episodesof spasm in the right coronary artery and an acute inferiormyocardial infarction.     

Angiographic progression of coronary artery disease and the development of myocardial infarction

There are few data on angiographic coronary artery anatomy in patients whose coronary artery disease progresses to myocardial infarction. In this retrospective analysis, progression of coronary artery disease between two cardiac catheterization procedures is described in 38 patients: 23 patients (Group I) who had a myocardial infarction between the two studies and 15 patients (Group II) who presented with one or more new total occlusions at the second study without sustaining an intervening infarction. In Group I the median percent stenosis on the initial angiogram of the artery related to the infarct at restudy was significantly less than the median percent stenosis of lesions that subsequently were the site of a new total occlusion in Group II (48 versus 73.5%, p less than 0.05). In the infarct-related artery in Group I, only 5 (22%) of 23 lesions were initially greater than 70%, whereas in Group II, 11 (61%) of 18 lesions that progressed to total occlusion were initially greater than 70% (p less than 0.01). In Group I, patients who developed a Q wave infarction had less severe narrowing at initial angiography in the subsequent infarct-related artery (34%) than did patients who developed a non-Q wave infarction (80%) (p less than 0.05). Univariate and multivariate analysis of angiographic and clinical characteristics present at initial angiography in Group I revealed proximal lesion location as the only significant predictor of evolution of lesions greater than or equal to 50% to infarction. This retrospective study suggests that myocardial infarction frequently develops from previously nonsevere lesions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)