Mina Radovanovic

The Timing of Infarction Pain in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction after Previous Revascularization

Circadian variation of onset of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has been noted in many studies, but there are no data about subgroups of patients with previous coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Because of abnormalities in the circadian rhythm of autonomic tone after surgery, it was very interesting to analyze the circadian patterns in the onset of symptoms of AMI in various subgroups of 1784 patients with previous CABG. As in the other studies, a peak occurred in the morning hours with 26.3% of the patients, but there was a second nearly equal, but higher, peak (26.4%) in the evening hours. The subgroups with specific clinical characteristics exhibited different patterns that determined these peaks in all populations. In patients older than 70 years of age, in both sexes, in smokers, diabetics, in patients with hypertension, in those undergoing beta-blocker therapy, and in patients without previous angina, two nearly equal peaks were observed, with higher evening peaks, except in those patients with hypertension and without angina. Only one peak in the evening hours was observed in a subgroup of patients with previous congestive heart failure (CHF) and non-STEMI. The subgroup of patients with previous angina and previous AMI exhibited no discernible peaks. The distribution of time of onset within the four intervals was not uniform, and the difference was statistically significant only for patients undergoing beta-blocker therapy at time of onset (p = 0.0013), nonsmokers (p = 0.0283), and patients with non-STEMI (p = 0.0412). It is well known that patients with AMI have a dominant morning peak of circadian variation of onset. However, analyzing a different subgroup of patients with AMI after previous CABG, it was found that some subgroups had two peaks of onset, but a higher evening peak (patients older than 70 years of age, smokers, diabetics, and a group of patients who were taking beta-blocker therapy). This subgroup of patients, together with the subgroups of patients with a dominant evening peak (patients with CHF and those with non-STEMI) and with patients with no peak (patients with previous angina and previous AMI), probably appear to modify characteristic circadian variation of infarction onset, expressing a higher evening peak, respectively to the previous CABG, with adverse consequences for central nervous system functioning.

In-Hospital and Long-Term Prognosis after Myocardial Infarction in Patients with Prior Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery; 19-Year Experience

To present a 19-year experience of the prognosis of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and prior coronary artery bypass surgery (CABS), 748 patients with AMI after prior CABS (postbypass group) and a control group of 1080 patients with AMI, but without prior CABS, were analyzed. All indexes of infarct size were lower in the postbypass group. There was more ventricular fibrillation in the postbypass group. In-hospital mortality was similar (p = 0.3675). In the follow-up period, postbypass patients had more heart failure, recurrent CABS, reinfarction, and unstable angina than did control patients. Cumulative survival was better in the control group than in the postbypass group (p = 0.0403). Multiple logistic regression model showed that previous angina (p = 0.0005), diabetes (p = 0.0058), and age (p = 0.0102) were independent predictor factors for survival. Use of digitalis and diuretics, together with previous angina, also influenced survival (p = 0.0092), as well as male gender, older patients, and diabetes together (p = 0.0420). Patients with AMI after prior CABS had smaller infarct, but more reinfarction, reoperation, heart failure, and angina. Previous angina, diabetes, and age, independently, as well as use of digitalis and diuretics together with angina, and male gender, older patients, and diabetes together, influenced a worse survival rate in these patients.

B-type natriuretic peptide in outpatients after myocardial infarction: Optimized cut-off value for incident heart failure prediction

Higher levels of natriuretic peptides were identified in outpatients after myocardial infarction (MI) compared to the healthy population, even in the absence of heart failure (HF). Therefore, we assessed the optimal cut-off value of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) in relation to new-onset HF prediction in 79 post-MI patients with preserved left ventricular systolic function (ejection fraction >40%). Plasma BNP was measured by enzyme immunoassay, 6 months after MI and patients were followed-up for the next one year. Cox proportional regression model analysis revealed the independent prognostic value of BNP for HF prediction (p=0.005). As assessed by ROC analysis the optimal cut-off value of BNP was 175 pg/mL (sensitivity 82%; specificity 77%, AUC 0.77), associated with significantly different rates of incident HF by Kaplan-Meier analysis (p=0.001). In this population of outpatients with preserved left ventricular systolic function after MI, BNP strongly correlated with new-onset HF development at the optimal cut-off value of 175 pg/mL.

Sex and age differences and outcomes in acute coronary syndromes

BACKGROUND There is conflicting information about sex differences in presentation, treatment, and outcome after acute coronary syndromes (ACS) in the era of reperfusion therapy and percutaneous coronary intervention. The aim of this study was to examine presentation, acute therapy, and outcomes of men and women with ACS with special emphasis on their relationship with younger age (≤65years). METHODS From January 2010 to June 2015, we enrolled 5140 patients from 3 primary PCI capable hospitals. Patients were registered according to the International Survey of Acute Coronary Syndrome in Transitional Countries (ISACS-TC) registry protocol (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01218776). The primary outcome was the incidence of in-hospital mortality. RESULTS The study population was constituted by 2876 patients younger than 65years and 2294 patients older. Women were older than men in both the young (56.2±6.6 vs. 54.1±7.4) and old (74.9±6.4 vs. 73.6±6.0) age groups. There were 3421 (66.2%) patients with ST elevation ACS (STE-ACS) and 1719 (33.8%) patients without ST elevation ACS (NSTE-ACS). In STE-ACS, the percentage of patients who failed to receive reperfusion was higher in women than in men either in the young (21.7% vs. 15.8%) than in the elderly (35.2% vs. 29.6%). There was a significant higher mortality in women in the younger age group (age-adjusted OR 1.52, 95% CI: 1.01-2.29), but there was no sex difference in the older group (age-adjusted OR 1.10, 95% CI: 0.87-1.41). Significantly sex differences in mortality were not seen in NSTE-ACS patients. CONCLUSIONS In-hospital mortality from ACS is not different between older men and women. A higher short-term mortality can be seen only in women with STEMI and age of 65 or less.

Effects of immediate invasive strategy on occurrence of in-hospital major cardiovascular events in non-STEMI patients

Purpose: Current clinical practice guidelines for the management of NSTEMI patients suggest early invasive procedure, within 24h, if GRACE score is >140 and within 72h of admission in patients at lower risk, with GRACE score ≤140. The aim of this study was to investigate if immediate invasive strategy (<2h) is associated with lower in-hospital MACE rates. Methods: We randomized 323 non-STEMI patients into the immediate invasive strategy group (<2h after randomization, n=162) and the late invasive strategy group (2-72h after randomization, n=161). Patients with hemodynamic instability, heart insufficiency and life-threatening ventricular arrhythmia on admission, were excluded from the study. Results: The median time from randomization to angiography in the immediate group was 1.3h and 61.5h in the late group (p < 0.001). Baseline characteristics did not differ significantly between the two study arms, except for diabetes (33% in the late group vs. 22% in the immediate group, p = 0.024). GRACE score was not significantly different between the groups (132 vs. 129, p = 0.3). In-hospital MACE (cardiovascular death, re-infarction or stroke) occurred significantly less frequently in the immediate compared to the late study arm (3.1% vs. 11.8%, p = 0.003). After adjusting for the localization of myocardial infarction, sex, age and diabetes, the calculated odds ratio was 0.269 (95% CI 0.095-0.760, p = 0.013). The observed difference in in-hospital MACE was mainly due to lower rates of re-infarction in the immediate versus late group (1.9% vs. 9.3%, adjusted OR = 0.2, 95% CI 0.056 -0.736, p = 0.015). In-hospital rates of cardiovascular death and stroke were similar between the groups. Conclusion: Immediate invasive strategy in NSTEMI patients is associated with lower rates of in-hospital MACE, irrespective of baseline GRACE score.

The influence of antibiotics and statins on inflammation in coronary disease.

Cardiovascular system diseases are the leading cause of death in developed countries. According to the World Health Organization data, coronary artery disease is responsible for death of over seven million people per year, while only in the United States about two million patients are hospitalized with the diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome (acute myocardial infarction or unstable angina). The main cause of these diseases is arteriosclerosis. The arteriosclerotic process in the big arterial blood vessels begins very early, already in childhood. Risk factors for arteriosclerosis are: hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity, smoking and physical inactivity. The main mechanism is a modest, chronic inflammative reaction as a response to the blood vessel damage.