Peak troponin I level predicts new-onset atrial fibrillation in patients with myocardial infarction.

PURPOSE: We aimed to assess the predictive value of peak troponin I level for the occurrence of new-onset AF in myocardial infarction. METHODS: A total of 1553 patients, who were hospitalized with diagnosis of STEMI and underwent primary PCI, were retrospectively evaluated. New-onset AF was defined as any newly diagnosed AF that occurred during index hospitalization after primary PCI. RESULTS: New-onset AF was observed in 90 patients (5.8% of the study population). Patients who developed AF were older (56.1 vs. 62.6 years, p.

Can we use plasma hyperosmolality as a predictor of mortality for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction?

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the association of plasma osmolality with all-cause mortality in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients treated with a primary percutaneous coronary intervention. METHODS: This study included 3748 patients (mean age 58.3±11.8 years, men 81%) with STEMI treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention. The following formula was used to measure the plasma osmolality at admission: osmolality=1.86×sodium (mmol/l)+glucose (mg/dl)/18+BUN (mg/dl)/2.8+9. RESULTS: The patients were followed up for a mean period of 22±10 months. Patients with higher plasma osmolality had 3.7 times higher in-hospital (95% confidence interval: 2.7-5.1) and 3.2 times higher long-term (95% confidence interval: 2.5-4.1) all-cause mortality rates than patients with lower plasma osmolality. CONCLUSION: Plasma osmolality was found to be a predictor of both in-hospital and long-term all-cause mortality. Hence, plasma osmolality can be used to detect high-risk patients in STEMI.

The association of the coronary thrombus burden with all-cause mortality and major cardiac events in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction patients treated with tirofiban.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the association of the coronary thrombus burden with all-cause mortality and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients treated with 'in-cath lab' (downstream) high-dose bolus tirofiban. METHODS: This study included 2452 patients with STEMI treated with a primary percutaneous coronary intervention. All glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor inhibitor (GPI) (tirofiban) infusions were started in the catheterization laboratory according to the coronary thrombus burden; tirofiban was not administered to patients who did not have coronary thrombus burden. All patients with small, moderate, or large thrombus burden received tirofiban therapy. The primary study endpoint was the incidence of all-cause mortality. The secondary study endpoints were major bleeding and MACE, which included all-cause death, nonfatal acute coronary syndrome, and target lesion revascularization. RESULTS: The patients were followed up for a mean period of 28.3±10.4 months. The groups showed similar in-hospital and long-term event rates (MACE, major bleeding, and all-cause mortality). The 3-year Kaplan-Meier overall survivals for no thrombus, small thrombus, moderate thrombus, and large thrombus were 91.9, 92.6, 92.3, and 89.5%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Despite the fact that the large coronary thrombus was found to be a predictor of MACE and mortality in many previous studies, we found that the large thrombus was not associated with MACE or in-hospital mortality or long-term mortality. This can be an effect of downstream GPI therapy. We suggest the use of downstream GPI therapy for STEMI patients with large coronary thrombus without an increased risk of bleeding.