scholarly journals Myocardial infarction or acute coronary syndrome with non-obstructive coronary arteries and sudden cardiac death: a missing connection

EP Europace ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 1303-1310
Author(s):  
Nikolaos Kosmas ◽  
Antonis S Manolis ◽  
Nikolaos Dagres ◽  
Efstathios K Iliodromitis

Abstract Myocardial infarction with non-obstructive coronary arteries or any acute coronary syndrome (ACS) with normal or near-normal (non-obstructive) coronary arteries (ACS-NNOCA) is an heterogeneous clinical entity, which includes different pathophysiology mechanisms and is challenging to treat. Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is a catastrophic manifestation of ACS that is crucial to prevent and treat urgently. The concurrence of the two conditions has not been adequately studied. This narrative review focuses on the existing literature concerning ACS-NNOCA pathophysiology, with an emphasis on SCD, together with risk and outcome data from clinical trials. There have been no large-scale studies to investigate the incidence of SCD within ACS-NNOCA patients, both early and late in the disease. Some pathophysiology mechanisms that are known to mediate ACS-NNOCA, such as atheromatous plaque erosion, anomalous coronary arteries, and spontaneous coronary artery dissection are documented causes of SCD. Myocardial ischaemia, inflammation, and fibrosis are probably at the core of the SCD risk in these patients. Effective treatments to reduce the relevant risk are still under research. ACS-NNOCA is generally considered as an ACS with more ‘benign’ outcome compared to ACS with obstructive coronary artery disease, but its relationship with SCD remains obscure, especially until its incidence and effective treatment are evaluated.

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nuria Vicente-Ibarra ◽  
Eloisa Feliu ◽  
Vicente Bertomeu-Martínez ◽  
Pedro Cano-Vivar ◽  
Pilar Carrillo-Sáez ◽  
...  

Abstract Background It is estimated that 5% to 10% of patients with myocardial infarction (MI) present with no obstructive coronary artery lesions. Until now, most studies have focused on acute coronary syndrome, including different clinical entities with a similar presentation encompassed under the term MINOCA (MI with non-obstructive coronary arteries). The aim of this study is to assess the prognosis of patients diagnosed with true infarction, confirmed by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR), in the absence of significant coronary lesions. Methods Prospective multicenter registry study, including 120 consecutive patients with a CMR-confirmed MI without obstructive coronary artery lesions. The primary clinical outcome was major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE: death, non-fatal infarction, stroke, or cardiac readmission), assessed over three years. Results Seventy-six patients (63.3%) were admitted with a diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome, and 44 (36.6%) for other causes (mainly heart failure); the definitive diagnosis was established by CMR. Most patients (64.2%) were men, and the mean age was 58.8 ± 13.5 years. Patients presented with small infarcts: 83 (69.1%) showed late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) in one or two myocardial segments, mainly transmural (in 77.5% of patients) and with a preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (median 54.8%, interquartile range 37–62). The most frequent infarct location was inferolateral (n = 38, 31.7%). During follow-up, 43 patients (35.8%) experienced a MACE, including 9 (7.5%) who died. In multivariable analysis, LGE in two versus one myocardial segment doubled the risk of adverse cardiac events (hazard ratio [HR] 2.32, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.97–5.83, p = 0.058). Involvement of three or more myocardial segments almost tripled the risk (HR 2.71, 95% CI 1.04–7.04, p = 0.040 respectively). Conclusions Patients with true MI but without significant coronary artery lesions predominantly had small infarcts. Myocardial 3-segment LGE involvement is associated with a significantly higher risk of adverse cardiac events.


Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 141 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katlin Schmitz ◽  
Catherine P Benziger

Hypothesis: Myocardial infarction (MI) with non-obstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA) is a common cause of false positive (FP) ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) with associated high morbidity and mortality. Background: MINOCA is an important clinical problem found in patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome. Various clinical disorders lead to a working MINOCA diagnosis and make treatment and diagnosis a challenge for clinicians. MINOCA was recently defined by the American Heart Association (AHA) as those presenting with myocardial infarction with nonobstructive coronary arteries on angiography and no alternative diagnoses for presentation. Methods: Between 5/01/2009 -6/24/2019, all consecutive STEMI patients were prospectively examined and categorized into true positive STEMI activations or false positive STEMI activations (FP-STEMI). FP- STEMI were further categorized into groups based on the presence or absence of obstructive coronary arteries by angiography. Results: We had 472 FP-STEMI patients (42.3% female, median age of 58.9±16.9 years, 53.4% lived rurally) with 152 (31.4%) having evidence of coronary artery stenosis >50%. A secondary cause was identified for an additional 162 (34.3%) patients. Of the remaining FP-STEMI, 82 (2.9%) met criteria for MINOCA and 76 (2.6%) were borderline MINOCA due to not meeting the troponin criteria. Within the MINOCA group, the three most common presentations were: unknown etiology (42.7%), supply-demand mismatch (26.8%), and spontaneous coronary artery dissection (17.1%). The MINOCA group had a higher baseline incidence of dyslipidemia (p=0.037) compared to FP-STEMI and borderline MINOCA and lower smoking compared to borderline MINOCA (p=0.029). At discharge, referral to cardiac rehabilitation was lower (p=0.015) with only 69.7% of MINOCA patients having prescriptions for aspirin, 50% angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers, 64.5% beta blockers, and 65.8% statins. MINOCA had the highest statin prescription rate compared to borderline MINOCA and secondary (65.8% vs 51% vs 42.1%; respectively p=0.012). There was no significant difference between the mortality of MINCOA patient compared to the FP-STEMI patients. Only 10 (3.5%) had cardiac magnetic imaging studies obtained within 6 months (MINOCA 3.9%, borderline MINCOA 3.9%, and FP-STEMI 2.7% respectively). MINOCA patients had similar 30-day and 1-year mortality to FP-STEMI patients (9.0% vs 12.4% and 12.5% vs 15.2 % 30-day and 1-year respectively; p=0.064 and p=0.107). Conclusion: MINOCA represents a challenging group of patients with high mortality and low rates of medication prescription and cardiac rehabilitation referral.


Author(s):  
Thomas A. Zelniker ◽  
David A. Morrow ◽  
Benjamin M. Scirica ◽  
Jeremy D. Furtado ◽  
Jianping Guo ◽  
...  

Background Plasma omega‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω3‐PUFAs) have been shown to be inversely correlated with the risk of cardiovascular death in primary prevention. The risk relationship in the setting of an acute coronary syndrome is less well established. Methods and Results Baseline plasma ω3‐PUFA composition (α‐linolenic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, docosapentaenoic acid, and docosahexaenoic acid) was assessed through gas chromatography with flame ionization detection in a case‐cohort study involving 203 patients with cardiovascular death, 325 with myocardial infarction, 271 with ventricular tachycardia, and 161 with atrial fibrillation, and a random sample of 1612 event‐free subjects as controls from MERLIN‐TIMI 36 (Metabolic Efficiency With Ranolazine for Less Ischemia in Non–ST‐Elevation‐Acute Coronary Syndrome–Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction 36), a trial of patients hospitalized with non–ST‐segment–elevation ‐acute coronary syndrome. After inverse‐probability‐weighted multivariable adjustment including all traditional risk factors, a higher relative proportion of long‐chain ω3‐PUFAs (eicosapentaenoic acid, docosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid) were associated with 18% lower odds of cardiovascular death (adjusted [adj] odds ratio [OR] per 1 SD, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.68–0.98) that was primarily driven by 27% lower odds of sudden cardiac death (adj OR per 1 SD, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.55–0.97). Long‐chain ω3‐PUFA levels in the top quartile were associated with 51% lower odds of cardiovascular death (adj OR 0.49; 95% CI, 0.27–0.86) and 63% lower odds of sudden cardiac death (adj OR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.16–0.56). An attenuated relationship was seen for α‐linolenic acid and subsequent odds of cardiovascular (adj OR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.74–1.14) and sudden cardiac death (adj OR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.67–1.25). No significant relationship was observed between any ω3‐PUFAs and the odds of cardiovascular death unrelated to sudden cardiac death, myocardial infarction, atrial fibrillation, or early post‐acute coronary syndrome ventricular tachycardia. Conclusions In patients after non–ST‐segment–elevation‐acute coronary syndrome, plasma long‐chain ω3‐PUFAs are inversely associated with lower odds of sudden cardiac death, independent of traditional risk factors and lipids. Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT00099788.


2022 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 291
Author(s):  
Tariq Ashraf ◽  
Feroz Memon

Patients both male and female with diagnosis of Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) present with chest pain as presenting complaint. Lichtman JH et al. in his study with ACS showed that 93% of women presented with chest pain or discomfort.1 As compared to men women experience more associated symptoms as primary complaint. The associated symptoms are fatigue, dyspnea, backache, flue like symptoms, indigestion, palpitations and most common is anxiety & feeling scarry.2 Keeping these scenarios in mind one should inquire this associated presentation along with chest pain or discomfort in evaluating ACS in women. In continuation with symptoms there is quite a debate on pathophysiology of Acute Myocardial infraction in men and women regarding coronary pathologic features.3 Type 1 plaque rupture most common in both genders with plaque erosion most common in women in non-obstructive coronary artery disease.4 Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) having high mortality exists in the absence of risk factor of ACS.5 It was found in women up to 35% of patients with mean age of 42 to 53 years with a MACE (Major acute coronary event) of 47.4% and 10 years mortality rate of 7.7%2 SCAD seen in peripartum cases, oral contraception use, lack of exercise, connective tissue disorders and vasculidites. It is important for the physician to have in mind these disorders to avoid complications of coronary interventions. In a scientific statement from AHA, Mehte LS et al. showed a lower prevalence of atheroscrotic CAD in women.3 These are certain scoring system,6 that under present women because of vague symptoms and presentation. These scoring systems lead to decrease hospital admission and less noninvasive cardiac testing. For risk satisfaction of chest pain female gender should not be taken as sole criteria for presence or absence of coronary events in presence of other multiple factors. The last but not the least is the psychosocial stress more in women than in men. It has been found that young women who present with early onset myocardial infarction have more psychosocial risk factors in comparison to men of similar age,3 probably having high rates of poverty and trauma exposure during childhood because of various reasons.7 Different studies are endorsing relationship between depression and ischemic heart disease as prognostic factor after ACS.7 In our population where there is lack of education, poverty, awareness of disease especially in women the physician should ponder on different factors mentioned above i.e. presentation perceptions, prevalence, pathophysiology and psychosocial stress for evaluation and management of chest pain. References Lichtman JH, Leifheit-Limson EC, Watanabe E, Allen NB, Garavalia B, Garavalia LS, et al. Symptom recognition and healthcare experiences of young women with acute myocardial infarction. Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes. 2015;8:S31-8. Vargas K, Messman A, Levy PD. Nuances in Evaluation of Chest Pain in women. JACC Case Rep. 2021;3(17):1793-7. Mehta LS, Beckie TM, DeVon HA, Grines CL, Krumholz HM, Johnson MN, et al. Acute myocardial infarction in women: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2016;133:916-47. Mukherjee D. Myocardial infarction with nonobstructive coronary arteries: a call for individualized treatment. J Am   Heart   2019;8(14):e013361. Hayes SN, Kim ESH, Saw J, Adlam D, Arslanian-Engoren C, Economy KE, et al. Spontaneous coronary artery dissection: current state of the science: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation.  2018;137:e523-e557. Preciado SM, Sharp AL, Sun BC, Baecker A, Wu YL, Lee MS, et al. Evaluating sex disparities in the emergency department management of patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome. Ann Emerg    2021;77(4):416-24. Lichtman JH, Froelicher ES, Blumenthal JA, Carney RM, Doering LV, Frasure-Smith N, et al. Depression  as  a  risk  factor  for  poor prognosis  among patients  with acute coronary syndrome: systematic review and recommendations: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2014;129:1350-69.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 136-140
Author(s):  
Algirdas Rėkus ◽  
Gediminas Jaruševičius

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is a rare cause of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). It was first described 80 years ago. Pathogenetic me­chanisms are most likely to be associated with inti­mas tear or bleeding vasa-vasorum, which resulting in intramural haemorrhage. SCAD typically occurs in young women who do not have coronary heart disease risk factors and who have acute coronary syndrome. Half of all SCAD presents with ST – ele­vation myocardial infarction (STEMI), while the rest with non – ST – elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). The gold standard method for diagnosis is interventional coronary artery angiography. After the acute ischemic onset syndrome, most patients have a stable, benign clinical course, and eventually expe­rience spontaneous vessel wall healing. Therefore, conservative treatment (a watchful strategy) is recom­mended as the initial treatment. For the majority of cases as interventional and surgical treatment in most cases seems to be suboptimal. In this extremely com­plex situation, several novel and attractive coronary interventions have been proposed. The risk factors, pathogenesis theories, diagnosis, management, pro­gnosis of SCAD will be summarized in this review.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Farrukh Nadeem Jafri ◽  
David Solarz ◽  
Craig Hjemdahl-Monsen

Introduction. Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is a rare but important cause of acute coronary syndrome with a spectrum of disease that can include unstable angina, acute myocardial infarction, or sudden cardiac death. It has also been found in case reports to be caused by shear stress from physical exertion. We present a rare cycling induced SCAD that occurred in our institution in an otherwise healthy male with no cardiac risk factors. Case Presentation. A 36-year-old male presented to the emergency department with complaints of lightheadedness and diaphoresis after a bicycle fall. In the emergency department, he complained of feeling lightheaded and diaphoretic and having mid back pain. Patient had an ECG performed which showed lateral ST segment elevation and troponin I that was positive. A coronary angiography was subsequently performed demonstrating a spontaneous coronary artery dissection of left anterior descending coronary artery. Conclusion. SCAD is a rare cause of myocardial infarction, occurring in healthy individuals, which is rarely reported in the literature. Nearly 70% are diagnosed in postmortem studies after sudden cardiac death. Only 12 cases have been reported from activities involving physical exertion and no studies to our knowledge demonstrate this.


Author(s):  
O. O. Khaniukov ◽  
L. V. Sapozhnychenko ◽  
M. V. Sаmilyk ◽  
K. D. Perepelytsia

Over the past few years, much attention has been paid to the diagnosis and treatment of myocardial infarction (MI) with nonobstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA). Its prevalence achieves 5 — 15 %, and impact of risk factors of cardiovascular disease development on the MINOCA onset has some specific features. The following criteria are required to diagnose MINOCA: compliance with the MI criteria, absence of obstructive coronary artery disease (≥ 50 %) and exclusion of an alternative diagnosis. Myocardial ischemia is the underlying cause of cardiomyocyte damage during MINOCA. It can be caused by coronary artery thrombosis due to the rupture of atherosclerotic plaque (type 1 MI), spasm or spontaneous coronary artery dissection (type 2 MI). The aim of our study was to analyse risk factors and the incidence of MINOCA in patients with acute myocardial infarction. A retrospective analysis has been performed on 1358 histories of patients with MI who were hospitalized in Dnipropetrovsk Regional Clinical Center of Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery during the period of 2019 — 2020 years. From them, 60 (4.4 %) patients were selected based on MINOCA diagnostic criteria according to the European Society of Cardiology (2018). The mean age of patients was 58.6 ± 14 years. ST‑segment elevation MI (STEMI) was diagnosed in 87.2 %. Cardiac and non‑cardiac comorbidity has been investigated with the following results: atrial fibrillation (AF) was revealed in 13.3 % of patients, hypertension (AH) — in 85 %, history of coronary heart disease (CHD) — in 31.7 %, recurrent MI — in 11.7 %, chronic heart failure (CHF) — in 75 %, atherosclerosis of peripheral arteries — in 33.3 %, type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM 2) — in 20 %, obesity — in 40.7 %. The proportion of smokers was 43.8 %. According to the results of laboratory studies, dyslipidemia was diagnosed in 44.7 % of patients. According to coronary angiography, 55 % of patients had no coronary artery stenosis, 21.7 % had stenosis of one artery, and stenosis of two or more arteries was defined in 23.3 % of cases. The following distribution by lesions’ types was established: irregularities in the contours of arteries or stenosis up to 30 % in 35 % of cases; stenosis ≥ 30 < 50 % in 18.3 %, and slow evacuation of the contrast agent in 16.7 % of cases. Men prevailed in our research, which is inconsistent with the data of large observational studies, probably due to a small quantity of patients. Hypertension, chronic heart failure, tobacco smoking, obesity and dyslipidemia prevailed among the basic risk factors. Patients with MINOCA require careful evaluation to determine the causative agent and appropriate treatment choices. Conduction of large‑scale studies, in particular, randomized controlled observations, is reasonable and necessary to determine the optimal tactics for management patients with MINOCA.  


Author(s):  
Dmitriy P. Berezovskiy

The purpose of this study was to give a comparative characteristics of the prevalence of polymorphic alleles in the genes of the hemostatic system (PAI-1 (- 675 5G / 4G) and FGB (- 455 G / A)) in patients with sudden cardiac death and acute coronary syndrome in patients undergoing coronary artery stenting. Material and methods. Genetic typing of biological material (BM) was performed for the prevalence of polymorphic alleles in two genes of the hemostasis system. BM was selected from people with a diagnosis of coronary artery disease, divided into three comparison groups: I - suddenly deceased citizens with a diagnosis of coronary artery disease, II - patients with ACS who underwent urgent coronary artery stenting, III - patients with a chronic form of coronary artery disease endovascular surgery was performed as planned. Results and discussion. The calculated criterion 2 of the prevalence of polymorphisms in the FGB (- 455 G / A) and PAI-1 (- 675 5G / 4G) genes turned out to be more than the critical (tabular) value, which indicates the existing relationship between the presence of IHD and the carriage of one of polymorphic alleles. Based on the same data, the 2 criterion was calculated without taking into account data for a group of healthy citizens. For carriers of the polymorphic allele of the FGB gene (- 455 G / A), no statistically significant differences were found. For carriers of the PAI-1 gene polymorphic allele (- 675 5G / 4G), statistically significant differences were found. Conclusions. ACS with a favorable outcome (subject to emergency surgical intervention) occurs at an earlier age compared to suddenly dead citizens diagnosed with coronary artery disease. The presence of a mutant allele in the PAI-1 gene (- 675 5G / 4G) requires further studies in order to expertly assess the death rate in patients after surgery with coronary stenting.


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
J.F Iglesias ◽  
D Heg ◽  
M Roffi ◽  
D Tueller ◽  
O Muller ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Newest generation drug-eluting stents (DES) combining ultrathin cobalt chromium platforms with biodegradable polymers may reduce target lesion failure (TLF) as compared to second generation DES among patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). While previous studies indicated a potential benefit within the first two years after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), it remains uncertain whether the clinical benefit persists after complete degradation of the polymer coating. Purpose To compare the long-term effects of ultrathin-strut biodegradable polymer sirolimus-eluting stents (BP-SES) versus thin-strut durable polymer everolimus-eluting stents (DP-EES) for PCI in patients with ACS. Methods We performed a subgroup analysis of ACS patients included into the BIOSCIENCE trial (NCT01443104), a randomized trial comparing BP-SES with DP-EES. The primary endpoint of the present post-hoc analysis was TLF, a composite of cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction (MI) and clinically indicated target lesion revascularization (TLR), at 5 years. Results Among 2,119 patients enrolled between March 2012 and May 2013, 1,131 (53%) presented with ACS (ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, 36%). Compared to patients with stable CAD, ACS patients were younger, had a lower baseline cardiac risk profile, including a lower prevalence of hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, diabetes mellitus, and peripheral artery disease, and had a greater incidence of previous revascularization procedures. At 5 years, TLF occurred similarly in 89 patients (cumulative incidence, 16.9%) treated with BP-SES and 85 patients (16.0%) treated with DP-EES (RR 1.04; 95% CI 0.78–1.41; p=0.78) in patients with ACS, and in 109 patients (24.1%) treated with BP-SES and 104 patients (21.8%) treated with DP-EES (RR 1.11; 95% CI 0.85–1.45; p=0.46) in stable CAD patients (p for interaction=0.77) (Figure 1, Panel A). Cumulative incidences of cardiac death (8% vs. 7%; p=0.66), target vessel MI (5.2% vs. 5.8%; p=0.66), clinically indicated TLR (8.9% vs. 8.3%; p=0.63) (Figure 1, Panel B-D), and definite thrombosis (1.4% vs. 1.0%; p=0.57) at 5 years were similar among ACS patients treated with ultrathin-strut BP-SES or thin-strut DP-EES. Overall, there was no interaction between clinical presentation and treatment effect of BP-SES versus DP-EES. Conclusion In a subgroup analysis of the BIOSCIENCE trial, we found no difference in long-term clinical outcomes between ACS patients treated with ultrathin-strut BP-SES or thin-strut DP-EES at five years. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: Private company. Main funding source(s): Unrestricted research grant to the institution from Biotronik AG, Switzerland


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