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CLINICAL STUDY: ACUTE CORONARY SYNDROME

Pre-infarction angina elicits greater myocardial viability on reperfusion after myocardial infarction: a dobutamine stress echocardiographic study

^a Division of Cardiology, Hospital de León, León, Spain

Manuscript received July 24, 2000; revised manuscript received January 24, 2001, accepted February 12, 2001.

Reprint requests and correspondence: Dr. Ignacio Iglesias-Garriz, Division of Cardiology, Hospital de León, 24071 León, Spain
med016340{at}nacom.es

OBJECTIVES

We sought to evaluate myocardial viability (inotropic reserve) after myocardial infarction (MI) and its relationship with the presence of unstable pre-infarction angina (PIA).

BACKGROUND

Several studies have suggested that PIA can limit infarct size, but it is not known whether PIA can elicit myocardial viability after an acute MI, with left ventricular function improvement.

METHODS

Before discharge from the hospital, 91 patients with a reperfused MI (either fibrinolysis or primary coronary angioplasty) had low-dose dobutamine echocardiography performed to assess the myocardial inotropic reserve of the infarct-related area.

RESULTS

Twenty-nine patients (31.9%) had PIA in the 24-h period before the onset of MI. Nine patients were treated with primary coronary angioplasty: five (8.1%) in the group with PIA and four (13.8%) in the group without PIA. There were no other significant differences in the baseline characteristics of the patients. There were more viable segments in patients with PIA (44.9% vs. 30.7%, p = 0.007), and the number of patients with significant viability was higher in the PIA group (73.9% vs. 46.3%, p = 0.026). This occurred despite a similar number of segments with segmental wall abnormalities at baseline in both groups (46.1% vs. 46.9%, p = NS).

CONCLUSIONS

The presence of previous unstable PIA induces greater myocardial viability of the infarct-related area upon reperfusion and, as such, could have considerable therapeutic and clinical implications.

Abbreviations and Acronyms   CK-MB = creatine kinase-MB fraction   ECG = electrocardiogram   LDDE = low-dose dobutamine echocardiography   MI = myocardial infarction   PIA = pre-infarction angina   PIA+ = presence of pre-infarction angina   PIA– = absence of pre-infarction angina   WMSI = wall motion score index

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