A patient with an extensive coronary artery thrombus

Postoperative adverse cardiac events in acute myocardial infarction with high thrombus load and best time for stent implantation

BACKGROUND

Myocardial infarction is one of the most common types of coronary heart disease. It is mainly caused by the rupture of coronary atherosclerotic plaque, which leads to platelet agglutination and thrombosis. The occlusion of coronary arteries and vessels leads to insufficient myocardial blood supply, subsequently causing cardiac interstitial fibrosis, gradual enlargement of ventricles, and heart failure, which affects the quality of life and safety of patients.

AIM

To investigate the effects of emergency percutaneous interventional therapy (PCI) and delayed stenting in acute myocardial infarction with high thrombotic load and identify factors related to major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE).

METHODS

A total of 164 patients with acute myocardial infarction and high thrombotic load who received PCI were included. Of them, 92 patients were treated with delayed stent implantation (delayed group) and 72 patients received emergency PCI (immediate group). Myocardial perfusion after stent implantation was compared between the two groups. Patients were followed up for 12 mo, and the occurrence of MACE was used as the endpoint. Univariate and multivariate models were used to analyze the factors affecting MACE occurrence.

RESULTS

After stent implantation, 66 (71.74%) patients in the delayed group and 40 (55.56%) patients in the immediate group had thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) flow grade 3 (P < 0.05), while 61 (66.30%) patients in the delayed group and 39 (54.17%) patients in the immediate group reached TIMI myocardial perfusion grade 3 (P > 0.05). MACE occurred in 29 patients. There were statistically significant differences between the MACE and non-MACE groups in diabetes rate, TIMI grading, stent implantation timing, intraoperative use of tirofiban, and the levels of white blood cells (WBC), neutrophils, red blood cell distribution width (RDW), and uric acid, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) at admission (P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that TIMI grade 3 and intraoperative use of tirofiban effectively reduced the risk of MACE (P < 0.05), while immediate stent implantation, increased WBC, hs-CRP and RDW on admission increased the risk of MACE (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Delayed stent implantation outweighs emergency PCI in improving postoperative myocardial perfusion in acute myocardial infarction with high thrombotic load, and effectively reduces MACE in these patients.

Serum Ceramides as Prognostic Biomarkers of Large Thrombus Burden in Patients with STEMI: A Micro-Computed Tomography Study

ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) remains one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide. The identification of novel metabolic and imaging biomarkers could unveil key pathophysiological mechanisms at the molecular level and promote personalized care in patients with acute coronary syndromes. We studied 38 patients with STEMI who underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention and thrombus aspiration. We sought to correlate serum ceramide levels with micro-CT quantified aspirated thrombus volume and relevant angiographic outcomes, including modified TIMI thrombus grade and pre- or post-procedural TIMI flow. Higher ceramide C16:0 levels were significantly but weakly correlated with larger aspirated thrombus volume (Spearman r = 0.326, p = 0.046), larger intracoronary thrombus burden (TB; p = 0.030) and worse pre- and post-procedural TIMI flow (p = 0.049 and p = 0.039, respectively). Ceramides C24:0 and C24:1 were also significantly associated with larger intracoronary TB (p = 0.008 and p = 0.001, respectively). Receiver operating characteristic analysis demonstrated that ceramides C24:0 and C24:1 could significantly predict higher intracoronary TB (area under the curve: 0.788, 95% CI: 0.629-0.946 and 0.846, 95% CI: 0.706-0.985, respectively). In conclusion, serum ceramide levels were higher among patients with larger intracoronary and aspirated TB. This suggests that quantification of serum ceramides might improve risk-stratification of patients with STEMI and facilitate an individualized approach in clinical practice.