Elevated end-diastolic wall stress after acute myocardial infarction predicts adverse cardiovascular outcomes and longer hospital length of stay

Peak early diastolic strain rate improves prediction of adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction

BACKGROUND

The prognostic role of diastolic dysfunction measured by the circumferential peak early diastolic strain rate (PEDSR) on ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is not completely established.

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to investigate the prognostic value of diastolic function by measuring PEDSR within 1 week after STEMI.

METHODS

The cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) pictures of 420 subjects from a clinical registry study (NCT03768453) were analyzed and the composite major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) were followed up.

RESULTS

The PEDSR of patients was significantly lower compared with that of control subjects (P < 0.001). Within the median follow-up period of 52 months, PEDSR of patients who experienced MACEs deceased more significantly than that of patients without MACEs (P < 0.001). After adjusting with clinical or CMR indexes, per 0.1/s reduction of PEDSR increased the risks of MACEs to 1.402 or 1.376 fold and the risk of left ventricular (LV) remodeling to 1.503 or 1.369 fold. When PEDSR divided by best cutoff point, significantly higher risk of MACEs (P < 0.001) and more remarkable LV remodeling (P < 0.001) occurred in patients with PEDSR ≤ 0.485/s. Moreover, when adding the PEDSR to the conventional prognostic factors such as LV ejection fraction and infarction size, better prognostic risk classification models were created. Finally, aging, tobacco use, remarkable LV remodeling, and a low LV ejection fraction were factors related with the reduction of PEDSR.

CONCLUSIONS

Diastolic dysfunction has an important prognostic effect on patients with STEMI. Measurement of the PEDSR in the acute phase could serve as an effective index to predict the long-term risk of MACEs and cardiac remodeling.

Elevated myocardial wall stress after percutaneous coronary intervention in acute ST elevation myocardial infraction is associated with increased mortality

BACKGROUND

Despite early attempts to salvage myocardium-at-risk with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), changes in myocardial wall stress (MWS) leads to ventricular dilatation and dysfunction after acute ST-elevation myocardial infraction (STEMI). Whether this is transient or leads to long-term adverse outcomes major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) is not known. We studied the association between MWS and MACE in patients after a successful PCI for acute STEMI.

OBJECTIVES

To study the MWS in percutaneously revascularized STEMI patients in relation to all-cause mortality and MACE.

METHODS

We prospectively enrolled 142 patients who presented to our tertiary care hospital with acute STEMI requiring emergent PCI. In addition to the standard clinical biomarkers, both end-systolic and end-diastolic MWS was calculated using our recently validated Echocardiographic indices. Patients were then prospectively followed up to an average of 16.5 (± 12.0) months to assess all-cause mortality and MACE.

RESULTS

During the follow-up period, 9% of the patients died and 17% developed MACE. Patients who died had significantly elevated end-systolic WS compared to those who survived (mean ESWS, 80.01 ± 36.86 vs 59.28 ± 27.68). There was no significant difference in end-diastolic WS, left ventricular systolic function and peak troponin levels among survivors versus non-survivors. Elevated ESWS (>62.5 Kpa) and age remained the significant predictors of mortality on multivariate logistic analysis (OR 7.75, CI 1.33-73.86, P = .03; OR 1.16, CI 1.06-1.31, P = .002).

CONCLUSION

Elevated ESWS measured by echocardiogram is associated with increased odds of long-term mortality in STEMI patients who have undergone emergent PCI. This finding can help clinicians to risk stratify high-risk patients.

Analysis of Risk Factors for Adverse Cardiovascular Events in Elderly Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)

Background

The present research aimed to explore the risk factors for adverse cardiovascular events in elderly patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) combined with NAFLD.

Material/Methods

We included 325 AMI patients hospitalized in the Department of Cardiology. AMI patients underwent emergency thrombolysis or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). AMI patients were classified into NAFLD group and non-NAFLD group. General clinical data, creatinine and myocardial enzyme, GRACE scores of AMI patients were evaluated and compared between two groups. Incidence of adverse cardiovascular events, including ECG instability, hemodynamic instability and death were evaluated.

Results

Compared to patients in the non-NAFLD group, patients in the NAFLD group had remarkably lower proportions of diabetic patients (p=0.001), coronary heart disease (CHD) patients (p=0.027), and CABG/PCI patients (p<0.001), and had significantly higher EF values (p=0.042). Meanwhile, the proportion of adverse cardiovascular events (ECG instability (p<0.001), hemodynamic instability (p=0.033), and deaths (p=0.016)) in patients in the NAFLD group was significantly higher compared to patients in the non-NAFLD group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that GRACE score >140 (OR: 3.005, 95% CI: 1.504–6.032), EF <35% (OR: 2.649, 95% CI: 1.364–4.346), diabetes (OR: 1.308, 95% CI: 1.072–1.589), and NAFLD (OR: 1.112, 95% CI: 1.043–1.324) were independent predictors for elderly AMI patients’ adverse cardiovascular events.

Conclusions

The risk for adverse cardiovascular events in elderly acute myocardial infarction patients who also had NAFLD was significantly higher. Therefore, strengthening monitoring and active treatment for elderly AMI patients who also have NAFLD could reduce the incidence of adverse cardiovascular events and improve survival rate prognosis.

Tagged cine magnetic resonance imaging to quantify regional mechanical changes after acute myocardial infarction

PURPOSE

The conventional volumetric approaches of measuring cardiac function are load-dependent, and are not able to discriminate functional changes in the infarct, transition and remote myocardium. We examined phase-dependent regional mechanical changes in the infarct, transition and remote regions after acute myocardial infarction (MI) in a preclinical mouse model using cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR).

METHODS

We induced acute MI in six mice with left anterior descending coronary artery ligation. We then examined cardiac (infarct, transition and remote-zone) morphology and function utilizing 9.4 T high field CMR before and 2 weeks after the induction of acute MI. Myocardial scar tissue was evaluated by using CMR with late gadolinium enhancement (LGE). After determining global function through volumetric analysis, regional wall motion was evaluated by measuring wall thickening and radial velocities. Strain rate imaging was performed to assess circumferential contraction and relaxation at the myocardium, endocardium, and epicardium.

RESULTS

There was abnormal LGE in the anterior walls after acute MI suggesting a successful MI procedure. The transition zone consisted of a mixed signal intensity, while the remote zone contained viable myocardium. As expected, the infarct zone had demonstrated severely decreased myocardial velocities and strain rates, suggesting reduced contraction and relaxation function. Compared to pre-infarct baseline, systolic and diastolic velocities (v_S and v_D) were significantly reduced at the transition zone (v_S: -1.86 ± 0.16 cm/s vs -0.68 ± 0.13 cm/s, P < 0.001; v_D: 1.86 ± 0.17 cm/s vs 0.53 ± 0.06 cm/s, P < 0.001) and remote zone (v_S: -1.86 ± 0.16 cm/s vs -0.65 ± 0.12 cm/s, P < 0.001; v_D: 1.86 ± 0.16 cm/s vs 0.51 ± 0.04 cm/s, P < 0.001). Myocardial peak systolic and diastolic strain rates (SR_S and SR_D) were significantly lower in the transition zone (SR_S: -4.2 ± 0.3 s^-1 vs -1.3 ± 0.2 s^-1, P < 0.001; SR_D: 3.9 ± 0.3 s^-1 vs 1.3 ± 0.2 s^-1, P < 0.001) and remote zone (SR_S: -3.8 ± 0.3 s^-1 vs -1.4 ± 0.3 s^-1, P < 0.001; SR_D: 3.5 ± 0.2 s^-1 vs 1.5 ± 0.4 s^-1, P = 0.006). Endocardial and epicardial SR_S and SR_D were similarly reduced in the transition and remote zones compared to baseline.

CONCLUSIONS

This study, for the first time, utilized state-of-the art high-field CMR algorithms in a preclinical mouse model for a comprehensive and controlled evaluation of the regional mechanical changes in the transition and remote zones, after acute MI. Our data demonstrate that CMR can quantitatively monitor dynamic post-MI remodeling in the transition and remote zones, thereby serving as a gold standard tool for therapeutic surveillance.

Cardiovascular risk factors in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus

Objective Cardiovascular disease is a major complication among children with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). This prospective study aimed at examining the presence of cardiovascular risk factors in children with T1DM. Methods We evaluated several cardiovascular risk factors, including atherosclerosis, artery intima-media thickness (IMT) and metabolic responses, in 175 children with T1DM, with 150 non-diabetic children as normal controls. Results The diabetic children had significantly higher carotid IMT (cIMT) and aortic IMT (aIMT), higher values for diastolic wall stress (DWS), incremental elastic modulus (IEM), and flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) than the controls. The levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-4 (IL4), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and leptin were significantly higher in T1DM patients. In T1DM children, the cIMT and aIMT were correlated with several risk factors, including age, weight, body mass index (BMI), duration of diabetes, waist/hip ratio, as well as levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides and apolipoprotein B (apoB). In addition to common risk factors, cIMT was also associated with systolic blood pressure (BP). Other risk factors, such as height, diastolic BP, low-density lipoprotein (LDL)/high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol ratio, apolipoprotein A1 (apoA1) and S-creatinine levels, were not all independent risk factors of cardiovascular disease in T1DM children. Conclusions T1DM is associated with early impairment of the common carotid and aortic artery structure and function, and the diabetic state may be the main risk factor for arterial wall stiffening and thickening.