The Role of Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio and its Common Clinical Outcomes Among Patients with Non-ST Elevation Acute Coronary Syndrome.

Objectives: To evaluate the admission neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) for risk stratification for in-hospital outcomes and complications in non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (non-ST-ACS) patients. Methods: We recruited consecutive patients with non-ST-ACS. The NLR was obtained and stratified as low, intermediate, and high-risk based on <3.0, 3.0-6.0, and >6.0, respectively. The new ST-T changes, arrhythmias, contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN), and mortality were recorded. Results: Median NLR was 3 [2.1-5.3] for 346 patients with 19.9% and 30.6% in high- and intermediate-risk group. New ST-T changes were observed in 3.5% (12) out of which 8, 3, and 1 patient in low, intermediate, and high-risk group (p = 0.424), respectively. Arrhythmias were observed in 5.8% (20) with 7, 5, and 8 patients in low, intermediate, and high-risk group (p = 0.067), respectively. CIN was observed in 4.9% (17) with 5, 5, and 7 in low, intermediate, and high-risk group (p = 0.064), respectively. In-hospital mortality was recorded in 1.4% (5) with 2 and 3 patients in high and low-risk group (p = 0.260), respectively. Conclusion: A significant number of non-ST-ACS patients fall in the high-risk category of NLR. Although, the association between NLR and in-hospital mortality and adverse events was not statistically significant but relatively higher rates of events were observed in high risk group.

Comparison of Intracoronary Epinephrine and Adenosine for No-Reflow in Normotensive Patients With Acute Coronary Syndrome (COAR Trial).

BACKGROUND: Intracoronary epinephrine has been effectively used in treating refractory no-reflow, but there is a dearth of data on its use as a first-line drug in normotensive patients in comparison to the widely used adenosine. METHODS: In this open-labeled randomized clinical trial, 201 patients with no-reflow were randomized 1:1 into intracoronary epinephrine as the treatment group and intracoronary adenosine as the control group and followed for 1 month. The primary end points were improvement in coronary flow, as assessed by TIMI (Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction) flow, frame counts, and myocardial blush. Secondary end points were in-hospital and short-term mortality and major adverse cardiac events. RESULTS: In all, 101 patients received intracoronary epinephrine and 100 patients received adenosine. Epinephrine was generally well tolerated with no immediate table death or ventricular fibrillation. No-reflow was more effectively improved with epinephrine with final TIMI III flow (90.1% versus 78%, P=0.019) and final corrected TIMI frame count (24±8.43 versus 26.63±9.22, P=0.036). However, no significant difference was observed in final grade III myocardial blush (55.4% versus 45%, P=0.139), mean reduction of corrected TIMI frame count (-25.71±11.79 versus -26.08±11.71, P=0.825), in-hospital and short-term mortality, and major adverse cardiac events. CONCLUSIONS: Epinephrine is relatively safe to use in no-reflow in normotensive patients. A significantly higher frequency of post-treatment TIMI III flow grade and lower final corrected TIMI frame count with relatively better achievement of myocardial blush grade III translate into it displaying relatively better efficacy than adenosine. Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT04699110.

Frequency of Three-Vessel Disease Among Patients With Non-ST Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction.

BACKGROUND: Though the presence of three-vessel disease (3VD) among patients with non-ST Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (NSTEMI) is relatively common, very limited data is available regarding its clinical significance. The current study aimed to determine the frequency of 3VD among NSTEMI patients presenting at the tertiary care hospital of Karachi, Pakistan. METHODOLOGY: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Karachi from August 15 2015 to February 15 2016 over a sample of 139 NSTEMI patients. Data regarding patients' baseline characteristics were recorded in a proforma. Coronary angiography was performed to determine the presence of 3VD. The frequency of occluded arteries and 3VD was also recorded and the collected data was then analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). RESULTS: A total of 139 NSTEMI patients were enrolled in the study with a mean age of 50.47 ± 12.47 years. The majority of them were males (70.5%), mostly ≥ 40 years of age (67.6%). Among the comorbidities, 50.4% of patients had diabetes mellitus (DM), 61.9% were hypertensive and 30.9% had dyslipidemia. The overall frequency of 3VD among the enrolled NSTEMI patients was 30.2%. Three major arteries were found to be occluded; 68.3% NSTEMI patients had occlusion in the left anterior descending (LAD) artery, followed by right coronary artery (RCA) among 49.6%, 40.3% had left circumflex (LCX) artery occlusion, and 50.4% had diagonal and obtuse marginal (OM) artery occlusion respectively. Among the effect modifiers, no significant impact of age, gender, and smoking habits was observed on the frequency of 3VD among NSTEMI patients (p > 0.05). Among the reported comorbidities, DM was significant among NSTEMI patients with 3VD (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Our study results indicated that a significant proportion of NSTEMI patients had 3VD, independent of the effect of age and gender.