Explore the vast range of titles available.

Background and aimsCurrent ESC guidelines on the management of patients after acute myocardial infarction only include the evaluation of left ventricular (LV) function by assessment of the ejection fraction in addition to clinical risk scores to estimate the patient’s prognosis. We aimed to determine, whether comprehensive evaluation of cardiac function using LV and right ventricular (RV) global longitudinal strain (GLS) and left atrial (LA) reservoir strain improves the prediction of survival in patients with acute myocardial infarction.MethodsIn patients with non-ST segment elevation or ST segment elevation myocardial infarction receiving echocardiography within 1 year after revascularisation, LV-GLS, RV-GLS and LA reservoir strain were quantified. In multivariable Cox regression analysis, HRs and 95% CIs were calculated per 1 SD increase in strain measure, adjusting for age, sex, systolic blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, smoking, diabetes and family history of premature coronary artery disease.ResultsDuring a median follow-up of 1.5 (0.5–4.2) years, 157 (11.1%) out of 1409 patients (64.4±13.5 years, 24.7% female) died. LV-GLS (1.68 (1.37–2.06), p<0.001), RV-GLS (1.39 (1.16–1.67), p<0.001) and LA reservoir strain (0.57 (0.47–0.69), p<0.001) were associated with mortality. Adding LV ejection fraction, tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) or LA volume index to these models did not alter the association of strain measures of the LV (1.41 (1.06–1.89), p=0.02), RV (1.48 (1.03–2.13), p=0.04) or LA (0.61 (0.49–0.76), p<0.001). In receiver operating characteristics, combining the three strain measures improved the prediction of mortality above risk factors (AUC: 0.67 (0.63–0.71) to 0.75 (0.70–0.80)), while further addition of LV ejection fraction, TAPSE and LA volume index did not (0.75 (0.70–0.81)).ConclusionThe comprehensive evaluation of contractility of various cardiac chambers via transthoracic echocardiography using myocardial strain analysis, when routinely performed after acute myocardial infarction, may help to detect patients at increased mortality risk.

Objective To quantify the shape and strength of the association between heart rate (HR) recorded during the first 30 min of intensive-care admission and in-hospital death in contemporary acute myocardial infarction (AMI), after adjustment for modern reperfusion, pharmacotherapy, and haemodynamic variables. Methods We extracted 1,510 adults with a primary International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) diagnosis of AMI (410.xx) from MIMIC-III (2008–2012). HR was defined as the mean of the first three electrocardiographic readings obtained within 30 min of ICU triage, before administration of rate-modifying drugs. We modelled HR both as clinically meaningful categories (< 60, 60–99, ≥ 100 bpm) and as a continuous exposure using restricted cubic splines (RCS). Multivariable logistic regression adjusted for age, sex, Killip class, systolic blood pressure, coronary revascularisation, β-blocker use, atrial fibrillation/flutter, hypertension, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, serum creatinine, haemoglobin, white blood cell count, sodium, potassium, glucose, platelet count and anion gap. Pre-specified subgroup analyses compared ST-elevation MI (STEMI) with non-ST-elevation ACS (NSTE-ACS). Results Mean age was 66.7 ± 13.9 years; 33.6% were women; STEMI accounted for 42%. Overall in-hospital mortality was 10.9%. HR ≥ 100 bpm (23% of patients) was associated with higher death risk (adjusted OR 2.45, 95% CI 1.56–3.85) versus 60–99 bpm. Bradycardia < 60 bpm (15%) was also associated with excess risk (adjusted OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.02–2.45), yielding a U-shaped RCS curve (non-linearity p  = 0.01). The HR–mortality gradient was steeper in STEMI than in NSTE-ACS (interaction p  = 0.04). Findings were robust after including the 46 patients who died within 24 h of admission. Conclusion Admission HR exhibits a U-shaped, independent relation with early mortality in modern AMI care; values outside 60–99 bpm identify high-risk patients despite urgent reperfusion and optimal medical therapy.

Background Previous studies have found a connection between left coronary artery dominance and worse prognoses in patient with acute coronary syndrome, which remains a predominant cause of morbidity and mortality globally. The aim of this study was to investigate whether coronary dominance is associated with the incidence of acute inferior myocardial infarction (MI). Methods Between January 2011 and November 2014, 265 patients with acute inferior MI and 530 age-matched and sex-matched controls were recruited for a case-control study in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University in Xi’an, China. All participants underwent coronary angiography. The exclusion criteria included history of coronary artery bypass graft surgery, chronic or systemic diseases (including hepatic failure, kidney failure, hypothyroidism and Grave’s disease), ventricular fibrillation, and known allergy to iodinated contrast agent. Patients with left- or co-dominant anatomies were placed into the LD group and those with right-dominant anatomy were included in the RD group. The association of acute inferior MI and coronary dominant anatomy were assessed using multivariable conditional logistic regression, and to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95%CI). Results Distributions of right dominance were significantly different between the acute inferior MI group and control group (94.0% vs. 87.9%, P  = 0.018). Univariable conditional logistic regression revealed that right dominance may be a risk factor for the incident acute inferior MI ( OR : 2.137; 95% CI : 1.210–3.776; P  = 0.009). After adjusting for baseline systolic blood pressure, heart rate, smoking status, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, and family history of coronary artery disease, results of multivariate conditional logistic regression showed that right dominance was associated with the incidence of acute inferior MI ( OR : 2.396; 95% CI : 1.328–4.321; P  = 0.004). Conclusions Right coronary dominance may play a disadvantageous role in the incidence of acute inferior MI. However, further studies are needed to verify our findings, especially with regard to the underlying mechanisms.

The inflammatory response after myocardial infarction (MI) is a precisely regulated process that greatly affects subsequent remodeling. Here, we show that basophil granulocytes infiltrated infarcted murine hearts, with a peak occurring between days 3 and 7. Antibody-mediated and genetic depletion of basophils deteriorated cardiac function and resulted in enhanced scar thinning after MI. Mechanistically, we found that basophil depletion was associated with a shift from reparative Ly6Clo macrophages toward increased numbers of inflammatory Ly6Chi monocytes in the infarcted myocardium. Restoration of basophils in basophil-deficient mice by adoptive transfer reversed this proinflammatory phenotype. Cellular alterations in the absence of basophils were accompanied by lower cardiac levels of IL-4 and IL-13, two major cytokines secreted by basophils. Mice with basophil-specific IL-4/IL-13 deficiency exhibited a similarly altered myeloid response with an increased fraction of Ly6Chi monocytes and aggravated cardiac function after MI. In contrast, IL-4 induction in basophils via administration of the glycoprotein IPSE/α-1 led to improved post-MI healing. These results in mice were corroborated by the finding that initially low counts of blood basophils in patients with acute MI were associated with a worse cardiac outcome after 1 year, characterized by a larger scar size. In conclusion, we show that basophils promoted tissue repair after MI by increasing cardiac IL-4 and IL-13 levels.

To the Editor: Böhm et al. (April 25 issue) 1 explored the effectiveness of fractional flow reserve (FFR)–guided complete revascularization as compared with culprit-only percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with ST-segment myocardial infarction (STEMI) or very-high-risk non-STEMI with multivessel disease. Their trial, FULL REVASC (FFR-Guidance for Complete Nonculprit Revascularization), showed that the use of FFR for complete revascularization did not lead to a lower risk of unplanned revascularization procedures than culprit-only PCI. However, this finding is in contrast with results from the COMPLETE (Complete versus Culprit-Only Revascularization Strategies to Treat Multivessel Disease after Early PCI for STEMI) and FIRE (Functional . . .

Compared to men, women have been reported to have increased morbidity and mortality after ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI); but sex differences in cardiac function in the acute and subacute phases of STEMI are incompletely understood. The objective of this study was to prospectively compare changes in cardiac function over the acute and subacute phases after anterior STEMI with timely reperfusion in women versus men. The Stunning in Takotsubo versus Acute Myocardial Infarction (STAMI) study (NCT04448639) prospectively enrolled 105 men and 41 women with anterior STEMI. Echocardiography and blood sampling were performed within 4 hours of admission and at 1, 2, 3, 7, 14, and 30 days after admission. The primary outcome was akinesia recovery, defined as the difference in the percentage of akinesia observed at baseline versus follow-up. Secondary outcomes included wall motion score index (WMSI), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and global longitudinal strain (GLS). Mixed effects linear regression or zero-inflated tobit models with random intercepts were used to model echocardiographic parameters over time. Baseline patient characteristics were similar in both groups. The difference between women and men in akinesia recovery at 30 days was 8.3% (95% credible interval 0.8%, 15.5%). The covariate-adjusted posterior probability that akinesia recovery and WMSI improvement at 30 days are greater in women than men were 96.0% and 99.0% respectively. Similar but less pronounced trends towards greater improvement in women than men were observed for LVEF and GLS. In conclusion, cardiac dysfunction recovered to a greater extent in women than in men after anterior STEMI with timely reperfusion.

Objective This study sought to investigate clinical characteristics of acute anterior ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients complicated by new complete right bundle branch block (CRBBB) and evaluate the occurrence of microcirculatory dysfunction post-percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods Retrospective analysis was conducted on 261 patients with acute anterior STEMI, differentiating 40 with concurrent new CRBBB (CRBBB group) from 221 without (no-CRBBB group). Data on demographics and hospitalization were collected, and clinical features and prognoses were compared. Post-PCI microcirculatory function was further characterized using coronary angiography-derived index of microcirculatory resistance (caIMR), thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) grade flow, corrected TIMI flow frame count (CTFC) of the infarct-related artery, and ST segment regression in electrocardiograph (STR). Results Age, Killip class, GLUC, TG, HDL, BUN, GFR, AST, ALT, WBC, TNI at admission significantly differed between groups ( P  < 0.05). Incidences of in-hospital major adverse cardiovascular events and LVEF showed significant disparities ( P  < 0.05). The CRBBB group exhibited higher CaIMR, lower TIMI flow, and STR ( P  < 0.05). Multivariate analysis indicated TIMI ≤ grade 2 (OR = 6.833, 95% CI: 1.009 ~ 46.287, P  = 0.049), STR ≥ 50% (OR = 0.176, 95% CI: 0.051 ~ 0.606, P  = 0.006), CTFC (OR = 1.079, 95% CI: 1.009 ~ 1.155, P  = 0.027), and caIMR (OR = 1.120, 95% CI: 1.059 ~ 1.185, P  < 0.001) were independently linked to new onset of CRBBB. Complicated of new CRBBB was strongly associated with elevated CaIMR in anterior STEMI patients. (OR = 5.065, 95% CI:1.793–14.308, P  = 0.002). Conclusion In patients with acute anterior STEMI, those with new CRBBB are at an increased likelihood of experiencing microcirculatory dysfunction.

BackgroundIn patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), history of atrial fibrillation (AF) and new onset AF during the early phase may be associated with a worse prognosis. Whether both conditions are associated with similar outcomes is a matter of debate.MethodsWe collected information for all patients with AMI seen in French hospitals between 2010 and 2019. Among 797,212 patients seen with STEMI or NSTEMI, 75,701 (9.5%) had history of AF, and 34,768 (4.4%) had new AF diagnosed between day 1 and day 30 after AMI.ResultsPatients with new AF were older and had more comorbidities than those with no AF but were younger and had less comorbidities than those with history of AF. During follow-up [mean (SD) 1.8 (2.4) years, median (interquartile range) 0.7 (0.1–3.1) years], 163,845 deaths and 30,672 ischemic strokes were recorded. Using Cox multivariable analysis, compared to patients with no AF, history of AF was associated with a higher risk of death during follow-up (adjusted hazard ratio HR 1.17, 95% CI 1.16–1.19) and this was also the case for patients with new AF (adjusted HR 2.11, 2.07–2.15). Both history of AF and new AF were associated with a higher risk of ischemic stroke compared to patients with no AF: adjusted HR 1.19 (1.15–1.23) for history of AF, adjusted HR 1.78 (1.68–1.88) for new AF. New AF was associated with a higher risk of death and of ischemic stroke than history of AF: adjusted HR 1.74 (1.70–1.79) and 1.32 (1.23–1.42), respectively.ConclusionsIn a large and systematic nationwide analysis, AF first recorded in the first 30 days after AMI was independently associated with higher risks of death and ischemic stroke than those in patients with no AF or previously known AF.Graphic abstract

Little is known about the relationship between ejection fraction (EF) and clinical outcomes among older patients with myocardial infarction in contemporary clinical practice. Data on 82,558 patients 65 years or older with ST-elevation myocardial infarction or non–ST-elevation myocardial infarction who survived to hospital discharge in the ACTION Registry–GWTG (2007-2011) were linked to Medicare data. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard modeling was used to assess the association between EF reported during hospitalization and 1-year mortality, using EF as a categorical variable (≤35%, >35% and ≤45%, >45% and <55%, and ≥55%) and as a continuous variable. Secondary outcomes of interest were 1-year all-cause, cardiovascular, and heart failure readmissions. The risk of 1-year mortality was 29.0% in patients with EF ≤ 35%, compared with 13.0% in patients in the reference group, EF ≥ 55% (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.58, 95% CI 1.51-1.66). Relative to patients with EF ≥ 55%, patients with EF ≤ 35% had an increased risk of 1-year all-cause readmission (adjusted HR 1.20, 95% CI 1.17-1.24), cardiovascular readmission (adjusted HR 1.36, 95% CI 1.31-1.41), and heart failure readmission (adjusted HR 2.43, 95% CI 2.28-2.60). For patients with EF ≤ 40%, the hazard of mortality increased by 26% for every 5% decrease in EF, a finding that remained after risk adjustment (adjusted HR 1.11, 95% CI 1.09-1.12). Low EF after MI remains an important risk factor for postdischarge mortality and hospital readmission, even after adjustment for patient and hospital characteristics.

Ventricular fibrillation (VF)-induced cardiac arrest frequently complicates ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Although larger infarct sizes (IS) correlate with a higher risk of VF, the influence of VF itself on IS has remained poorly investigated. To address this knowledge gap, we analyzed the effect of VF on IS in patients and two experimental models. From a prospective cohort, 30 STEMI patients with VF were matched 1:2 with STEMI patients without VF on the common determinants of IS. The primary endpoint was IS, assessed using the 48-h area under the curve (AUC) for troponin. We also compared IS in pigs with/without spontaneous VF during STEMI (n = 15/group), and in an isolated rat heart model of myocardial infarction with/without electrically induced VF (n = 7/group). After matching, the patient characteristics, including the area at risk (AR), were similar. IS was 33% lower in the VF group compared to the control group (troponin AUC 1.6 [0.5–3.3] 106 arbitrary units vs. 2.4 [0.9–4.1] 106 arbitrary units; p < 0.05), but infarct scar size (assessed using MRI and ECG) did not differ between the groups at 1 and 6 months. In both experimental models, IS, expressed as a percentage of AR, was lower (p < 0.05) in the VF group than in the control group. When common determinants of IS are comparable, VF occurring prior to myocardial infarction reperfusion appears to be associated with smaller IS. Nevertheless, this finding, observed under specific experimental conditions and in a highly selected group of patients, was not associated with reduced infarct scar size.Registration (HIBISCUS-STEMI cohort): ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05794022.