Enzymatic estimation of infarct size

Acute myocardial infarction in diabetic patients

All patients hospitalized during a 3-year period with an acute myocardial infarction were followed for the occurrence of reinfarction or death. The patients with diabetes mellitus (n = 95) were compared with the non-diabetic population (n = 545). The diabetics had a higher mortality rate (relative death rate of 1.44 vs. 0.93, p less than 0.01) and a higher frequency of reinfarctions (18.9 vs. 10.8%, p = 0.04) than the non-diabetic population. A larger proportion of the diabetics had suffered a previous infarction, but the excess mortality was also present in those without a previous infarction. Established risk factors for death after myocardial infarction, such as age, infarct size, infarct localization and heart size, could not account for the difference in mortality. It is suggested that the increased mortality among the diabetics may be due to an increase in the rate of progression of the atherosclerotic heart disease.

Medical treatment of patients with heart failure or left ventricular dysfunction undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention

Management of ischemic patients with pre-existing or new-onset left ventricular (LV) dysfunction poses a special challenge in terms of the timing of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and appropriate adjunctive medications to optimize outcome while minimizing risk. In a systematic fashion, this review attempts to provide a management scheme for patients with heart failure or LV dysfunction that present with stable angina, ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, or unstable angina/non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. By addressing therapeutic approaches to acute or decompensated heart failure and timing of coronary angiography based on severity of ischemia, we provide evidence-based recommendations for medications to initiate before, during, and following PCI.

Early intervention with propranolol after acute myocardial infarction: serial left ventricular function determined by M-mode and cross-sectional echocardiography

Fifty patients (mean age 48.6 +/- 9.4 years) with uncomplicated acute myocardial infarction were randomly assigned to propranolol therapy (n = 25) or placebo (n = 25) in a double-blind manner within 24 hours of their presentation with acute symptoms. M-mode and cross-sectional echocardiography were performed at one week and three months to evaluate the left ventricular function. A comparison of the two groups revealed that the group receiving propranolol had higher left ventricular ejection fraction (69% vs 52%, P less than 0.001), fractional shortening (32% vs 24%, P less than 0.01), lower mitral E-point septal separation (6 mm vs 14 mm, P less than 0.001) and wall motion abnormality score (2.5 vs 6.0, P less than 0.001) than the group receiving placebo therapy. At three months there was further significant improvement in wall motion abnormality score (1.1 vs 2.5, P less than 0.001) in the propranolol-treated group as compared to the placebo group, whereas the other parameters remained unchanged. We conclude that the left ventricular function detected by M-mode and cross-sectional echocardiography showed significant improvement in patients with acute myocardial infarction after early intervention with propranolol. This is possibly due to a reduction in the size of infarction.