The prevalence of microvascular obstruction in acute myocardial infarction: importance of ST elevation, infarct size, transmurality and infarct age
2011

Microvascular Obstruction in Heart Attacks

Sample size: 266 publication Evidence: high

Author Information

Author(s): Van Assche Lowie MR, Bekkers Sebastiaan CAM, Senthilkumar Annamalai, Parker Michele A, Kim Han W, Kim Raymond J

Primary Institution: Duke University

Hypothesis

What is the prevalence of microvascular obstruction in patients with acute myocardial infarction and how does it relate to infarction type, size, transmurality, and age?

Conclusion

Microvascular obstruction is more than twice as common in patients with STEMI than non-STEMI, but similar when considering infarct size and transmurality.

Supporting Evidence

  • The overall observed prevalence of microvascular obstruction was 53%.
  • Infarct size and transmurality were significantly larger in patients with microvascular obstruction.
  • The prevalence of microvascular obstruction was higher in STEMI than non-STEMI (69% vs 31%).
  • Microvascular obstruction prevalence was similar when infarct size and transmurality were large.

Takeaway

This study found that more heart attack patients with STEMI have microvascular obstruction compared to those with non-STEMI, but size and type of the heart damage matter too.

Methodology

The study involved 266 patients with first acute myocardial infarction, assessing microvascular obstruction using delayed-enhancement cardiac magnetic resonance.

Participant Demographics

Mean age was 59 years, with 68% male participants.

Statistical Information

P-Value

p<0.0001

Statistical Significance

p<0.0001

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1186/1532-429X-13-S1-P147

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