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Posts Tagged ‘stemi’

Is there a low risk STEMI where primary PCI is contraindicated ?

Posted in cardiac drugs, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on June 14, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Primary PCI  has proven to be the   best  option for management of STEMI . But it need to be  done very early by a an experienced team in a good facility . (Note ,  it is not the individual expertise that matters !  Ronalodo alone can never guarantee a   match win  !  )

Any treatment ,  which has a great therapeutic potential also  carries a hazard .

So , these treatment must be used with caution.  Not every STEMI patient , has a high risk of death.  In fact the mortality  in some of the subsets of STEMI ,  can be less than 1%. If , a  STEMI patient with a likely 1% mortality   is going to get a procedure with  3-4% ,  risk it is bound to raise a  validity  question ?

primary PCI PTCA STEMI CORONARY ANGIOGRAMS

What are the situations in  STEMI , where primary  PCI could be dangerous*?

* The  term dangerous here  means ,  Risk > Benefit .

Side vessel STEMI : STEMI in  branch coronary arteries. Main vessel STEMI(LAD,RCA,LCX ) has higher risk than side vessel STEMI( Diagonals, OMs, Septal) .

Side vessel  STEMI is not easy to diagnose in ECG ,  but an MI with ST elvation restricted to  only  2 leads  could be a side vessel STEMI.

The following could be some examples.

  • 1 /AVL , High lateral
  • V2 V3 ,   Septal
  • 3 AVF ,  PDA/RV/ Acute  marginal
  • V5 V6     OMs/Ramus

A spontaneously evolving  STEMI , with  ST segment   returning   towards  baseline  and T wave  getting inverted .This indicates IRA is either partially patent and  the coronary blood flow is in the salvage mode. Here , thrombolysis is going to be very effective .

Final message

In the management of  STEMI  , primary PCI could be  consciously avoided in some of the patients   to improve the overall outcome .

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The wrong concepts in coronary spasm !

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 1, 2009| 1 Comment »

Coronary arterial spasm is a commonly discussed entity  in clinical cardiology. Originally described by prinzmetal decades ago .It was reported to occur only in coronary care units as variant angina .There is nothing called stable spasm every episode of spasm is considered as unstable angina.

How common is coronary artery spasm ?

This condition thought to be very  common during ACS , but  notoriously difficult to confirm.In fact many of episodes are clinically suspected and never confirmed. There has been lot of provocative tests for confirming coronary spasm like ergonavine etc.None of these tests were  neither useful nor practical.

What are the clinical situations where coronary spasm occur ?

Old concepts die hard.Most of us believe , the most common cause for coronary spasm is prinzmetal’s  angina ie , angina   in normal coronary arteries or  with minimal lesions .Clinical experience ,  has taught us coronary spasm can occur in all spectrum of acute coronary syndrome or even chronic coronary syndromes.

Some believe every episode of STEMI will have a component of coronary spasm.

In NSTEMI/Unstable angina spontaneous coronary spasm is an important pathogenetic mechanism

Now,  we witness transient coronary artery spasm in the cath lab due to catheter and other hard ware.The spasm  here  , is secondary to mechanical stress and this in no way related to the coronary spasm described by prinzmetal in the pre cath era.

What is the link between coronary spasm and electrocardiogram ?

The most common  fallacy among  coronary care physician is , if it is spasm  there must be ST elevation

The classical cardiology teaching all over the world , has been so powerful  this myth continues to prevail over . The fact  of the matter is ,  the  coronary arterial spasm  , can never have any direct impact on the ECG. (Unless , coronary smooth muscle generate ST currents !)  . So , whatever  be  the effect of spasm it  is through it’s effect on the myocardial  blood flow.

Hence ,  it is not the coronary artery spasm that will dictate  the movement of ST segment . It is the impact of myocardial blood flow  to the layers of the myocadium  namely , endocardium, epicardium  , epicardium (  or a combination of  the above )  that will dictate ST segment dynamics.

What are the  the ECG features of coronary artery spasm ?

It can be

  1. ST depression
  2. ST elevation
  3. Only with T wave changes (Tall or Deep T invrsions)
  4. Flattish ST segment  or  rarely , entirely normal ECG indicating balanced ST forces

Among this , the most common manifestation of coronary spasm is thought to be ,  subendocardial ischemia and resultant ST depression .This classically occur in many cases of NSTEMI/UA .

This makes  ST depression  the dominant manifestation of spasm  ,

How coronary spasm can elevate the ST segment ?

If it  can   induce a transmural ischemia  it  can elevate a ST segment . Does  all episodes coronary spasm result in transmural ischemia ? No,not at all .in fact it happens very rare  as we have already seen .

To result in transmural ischemia , the spasm should be total &  sustained ,   at least for few minutes   to   completely   occlude  the blood flow .

Milder forms of spasm can elicit only  a  sub endocardial ischemia  that  depress the ST segment.

*There is a rare variety of spasm where subepicardium is more affected than endocardium and hence ST elevation may occur.

What is the effect of Nitroglycerine on coronary spasm ?

This is a very powerful coronary spasmolytic agent.We can witness it’s action more vividly in cath lab .

It brings back the ST segment to neutral position , from either a elevated or depressed state  .Many believe , ( may it’s a fact ) much of the early  benefit of angina relief in UA/NSTEMI is  amelioration of coronary spasm

Is coronary spasm a neural event or a biochemical event ?

The exact  answer is not known .It should be chemicals as  neural  signals are also mediated by chemicals.

What are the biochemical mediators of coronary spasm ?

  • Smooth muscle calcium : Calcium flux is the immediate cause for spasm
  • Mediators .Neural :Catecholamine ,
  • Thrombus  secretes  Thromoxane A2  which is a powerful vasoconstrictor

Smooth muscle calcium

Is  coronary vasoconstriction  and  coronary spasm  are synonymous ?

Both terms are synonymous . Vasoconstriction is often used to refer  constriction of  microvasculature

while  spasm  often describes  the event in large  epicardial vessel. Some times the term coronary vasomotion is used to describe  fluctuating coronary arterial tone.

What are the determinants of coronary artery spasm ?

  • Location (RCA>LCA)
  • Lesion characteristics -Eccentric overhanging lesion can trigger a spasm by  the plaque ‘s weight.
  • Thrombus content
  • Acuteness of the event
  • Adrenergic tone and nerve activity
  • Concomitant betablockade  .  Theoretical risk ?

What are the types  of coronary spasm ?

  • Discrete ring or band like  spasm
  • Segmental
  • Diffuse long segment  spasm
  • Multilevel spasm in same coronary artery
  • Pan coronary spasm entire vessel (rare)
  • Remote spasm away from catheter tip

Unanswered questions in coronary spasm

Can a totally normal  coronary artery go for spasm all of a sudden ?

It is thought to be rare. Even in prinxmetal series some amount of atherosclerosis was documented in most patients.

What is the relationship between spasm and adjacent lesion ?

Spasm following PCI :Can spasm crush a stent ?

Can a  coronary collaterals go for spasm ?

Logically  Spasm  can  occur  coronary collaterals .But it is difficult to document .coronary collaterals eventhough  has three layes as that of artery (Intima, media, adventia) th medial smooth muscles are less sparse. Advential lack vasa nervorum and hence neural input is less.So spasm is a rare event in coronary collaterals

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What is dfference between successful thrombolysis and successful reperfusion in STEMI ?

Posted in Cardiology - Clinical, cardiology -ECG, Cardiology -Interventional -PCI, cardiology -Therapeutics, Cardiology -unresolved questions, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 27, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Thrombolytic therapy ,  has been  the specific treatment  for STEMI for  many decades. Primary PCI*  is  shown to be  superior  than  thrombolysis  if   performed   early  by an experienced  team in a dedicated facility. (*Conditions apply). It is estimated ,   currently only a  a fraction  STEMI  population get primary PCI (<5%) in ideal conditions . Another fraction , get  primary PCI by inexperienced cardiologists  in low volume centres.

So , thrombolysis   remains, and  would continue to remain ,   the    primary  mode of therapy for STEMI  in the  present and near  future !

How do you assess the successful  thrombolysis ?

It should be recognised ,  there is a fundametal flaw in this  question !

The aim of thrombolytic therapy is  not  to   lyse  the thrombus  , but also  to restore the coronary blood flow to the  myocardium – also called reperfusion . One may wonder , why the term ,  thrombolysis  should ‘t be  used interchangeably with reperfusion. 

A successful thrombolysis  never guarantees  a good reperfusion , for the simple reason ,  distal blood flow in an  obstructed coronary artery  is dependent on ,  many factors  other than relief of obstruction.

Apart from the potency of drug,     other   important factors  that determine  successful  lysis &  reperfusion are  . . .

  • Timing of opening of artery , if the thrombolysis is delayed  ,  the distal myocardium is dead , and   it won’t allow blood flow to enter the mycardium.
  • Microvascular integrity is as vital as epicardial vessels.
  • Distal microvascualture  plugging by the thrombotic debri . This is called”no reflow “

So , we should  primarily assess myocardial reperfusion rather than epicardial thrombolyis ! following thrombolysis .

What are the parameters available to assess successful reperfusion /thrombolyis?

  1. Clinical : Relief from chest  pain. Angina relief  , though subjective is an indication for adequate reperfusion of ischemic myocardium.
  2. ECG-ST segment regression > 50%
  3. Cardiac enzymes: Early flushing of  intra myocytic CPK into systemic circulation and hence early peaking of CPK MB (<1ohours instead of 24h)
  4. Reperfusion arrhythmias(AIVR-Less specific) .Primary VF is now thought to be reperfusion related.
  5. Infract related artery(IRA) patency by coronary angiogram
  6. Distal TIMI flow/ myocardial blush score/ TIMI frame count

ECG ST regression ,  is a direct indicator  myocardial reperfusion   as the ST segment shifts  towards baseline ,  implies  of infarct current of injury . ST regression almost always correlate with good  recovery of LV function  in STEMI .

IRA patency , is an epicardial index , it  does not give information about myocardial blood flow . But ,  a good  distal TIMI flow generally indicates good reperfusion.This  again ,  is  not a fool proof  index,  as even many of the TIMI 3 flow patients  have severely damaged myocardium by echocardiography .

Final message

For the above reasons, one should always  make a distinction between successful lysis and successful reperfusion . Surprisingly ,  ECG  is  the gold standard for assessing successful reperfusion of myocardium ,  while CAG tell us  about epicardial patency and possibly reperfusion also.

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What is ischemic left ventricular failure ?

Posted in Cardiology - Clinical, Cardiology -Interventional -PCI, cardiology -Therapeutics, Cardiology -unresolved questions, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 26, 2009| 2 Comments »

Apart from  acute  coronary syndrome,    cardiac  failure is   the most common clinical  presentation of  CAD. Cardiac failure ,  classically present with dyspnea on rest or on exertion , while angina is the dominant presentation in ACS.  

What if  ,  both these  occur together in an acute fashion ?

Yes ,  if it occurs  together it is called ischemic cardiac failure . Fortunately , this is quiet uncommon . It has   an adverse outcome,  especially if it occurs  as a companion of NSTEMI . Let us see how . . .(  Most of the episodes of cardiac failure  in CAD  means only  LV failure )

For cardiac failure to occur , there need to be a mechanical contractile dysfunction or defect . In CAD population , this can  occur in  one of the following way.

  • Loss of LV muscle (Acute  Myocardial infarction as in STEMI)
  • Mechanical defects (Mitral regurgitation/VSR etc)
  • An arrhythmia (Commonly VT or AF / CHB )  can precipitate  cardiac failure

Apart from these three , there is  an important mechanism of acute LVF, namely ischemic stunning of major part of LV resulting in severe mechanical dysfucntion.This is a dangerous form of cardiac failure (Pathologivcclaly it is thought to represent  contraction  band necrosis !) this occurs in global ischemic situations manifested as gross global ST depression.

So,  there are two types of  ischemic LVF  .  STEMI   occuring due to infarct( ± ischemia ) Other  one (NSTEMI)entirely due to ischemia.

Logically ,  one  may n’t   refer  STEMI related LVF as  ischemic LVF at all  , as infarct has already occured. While , NSTEMI related LV could be the ” True ischemic LVF “


What are the differences between cardiac failure that occur in  STEMI and NSTEMI ?


lvf in nstemi stemi

Is post infarct failure  ( The commonly used terminology  , now out of vogue ! )  a type of ischemic LVF ?

In the strict sense , it is not . Here the dead myocardium , is responsible  for the   failure .To label a  LVF , as  ischemic , ongoing ischemia must  be  documented and further it  should  be shown to  contribute   for the  mechanical dysfunction .

This is of vital importance ,   if you wrongly attribute ischemia  as a cause for  the LVF , the patient may be taken up for emergency  revascularisation .It is not going to help much (Infact , it may  worsen !) as  this cardiac failure is not going to be corrected  .What we require ,  here is an  aggressive medical management  protocol .


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Is there a time window for rescue PCI ? Why we are not insisting on it ?

Posted in cardiology -ECG, Cardiology -Interventional -PCI, cardiology -Therapeutics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 25, 2009| 1 Comment »

Failed thrombolysis is an important clinical  issue  in STEMI   as  successful thrombolysis  occurs  only in  about 50-60%  of pateints . The typical criteria to define failed thrombolysis is  the  regression  of less than 50% of sum total( or maximum)  ST elevation in infarct leads.

So what do you do for these patients with failed thrombolysis ?

It depends upon the patient’s symptom, hemodynamic stability, LV dysfunction .

They  should  get one of the following .

  1. Conservative medical management  with /without CAG
  2. Repeat thrombolysis
  3. Rescue PCI
  4. CABG

Medical management is  thought to be  too inferior a  management,  many of the interventional cardiologists  do  not want to talk about . But  , there is  an important  group of patients (Not often addressed in cardiology literature)  who  technically fulfill the criteria  of failed thrombolysis  , but   still  very  comfortable , asymtomatic  and in  class 1. These patients ,  have  a strong option for continuing the conservative management .

Repeat thrombolysis does not have a consistent effect but can  be  tried in some  stable patients. CABG  can be a genuine option in few

Rescue PCI

This terminology  has become  the  glamorous one since the  catchy word  rescue is tagged in the title  itself. For most of the cardiac physicians ,  this has become the default treatment modality.This is an unfortunate perception . What  one should realise   here is  , we are  tying to rescue  the myocardium and  the patient ,   not the patient’s coronary artery !

Opening up a coronary obstruction is not synonymous with rescue .

For rescue PCI ,  to be effective it should be done within the same time window as that for thrombolysis (ie within 6 or at the most  12 hours) .This timing  is  of vital importance  for the simple reason , there will be nothing to rescue after 12 hours as most of the muscle  would be  dead. Reperfusing a dead myocardium has been shown to be hazardous in some ,  as it converts a simple  infarct into a hemorrhagic  infarct.This softens the core of the infarct and  carry a risk of rupture. Further,   doing a complex emergency  PCI  ,  in  a thrombotic milieu with   presumed  long term  benefit ,  is  a  perfect recipe for a potential  disaster.

While the above statement may be seen as pessimistic view , the optimistic cardiologist would vouch for the“Curious  open artery hypothesis” .This theory simply states , whatever be the status  of the distal myocardium ( dead or alive !)   opening an obstruction in the concerened coronary artery  will benefit the patient !

It is  huge surprise , this concept   continues to  be alive even after  repeatedly shot dead by number of very good clinical trials (TOAT, CTO limb of COURAGE etc ).

The REACT study (2004) concluded undisputed benefit of rescue PCI for failed thrombolysis  , only if the rescue was done  within  5-10 hours after the onset of symptoms.The mean time for  pain-to-rescue PCI was 414 minutes (6.5hours)

Final  message

It is fashionable to talk about time window for thrombolyis but not for PCI  .The time window for rescue PCI is an redundant issue  for many  cardiologists ! . But ,  the fact of the matter is ,  it is not . . .

The concept of time window in rescue PCI  , is as important as ,   that of  thrombolysis. Please , think twice or thrice !  if some body suggest you to do a rescue PCI in a stable patient  ,  12hours after the index event .

Important note : This rule   does not (  or need  not  ) apply for patients in cardiogenic shock  or patient ‘s with ongoing iscemia and angina.

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Fallacies in emergency room :Why we are not risk stratifying STEMI on arrival , but do it promptly in NSTEMI ?

Posted in Cardiology -Interventional -PCI, cardiology -Therapeutics, Cardiology -unresolved questions, Cardiology-Coronary artery disese, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 21, 2009| 2 Comments »

NSTEMI constitutes a very heterogeneous population .The cardiac risk can vary between very low to very high . In contrast , STEMI patients carry a high risk for electro mechanical complication including sudden death .They all need immediate treatment either with thrombolysis or PCI to open up the blood vessel and salvage the myocardium.

The above concept , may be true in many situations , but what we fail to recognize is that , STEMI also is a heterogeneous clinico pathological with varying risks and outcome !
Let us see briefly , why this is very important in the management of STEMI

Management of STEMI has undergone great change over the past 50 years and it is the standing example of evidence based coronary care in the modern era ! The mortality , in the early era was around 30-40% . The advent of coronary care units, defibrillators, reduced the mortality to around 10-15% in 1960 /70s . Early use of heparin , aspirin further improved the outcome .The inhospital mortality was greatly reduced to a level of 7-8% in the thrombolytic era. And , then came the interventional approach, namely primary PCI , which is now considered the best form of reperfusion when done early by an experienced team.

Inspite of this wealth of evidence for the superiority of PCI , it is only a fraction of STEMI patients get primary PCI even in some of the well equipped centers ( Could be as low as 15 %)

Why ? this paradox

Primary PCI has struggled to establish itself as a global therapeutic concept for STEMI , even after 20 years of it’s introduction (PAMI trial) . If we attribute , lack of infrastructure , expertise are responsible for this low utility of primary PCI , we are mistaken ! There are so many institutions , at least in developing world , reluctant to do primary PCI for varied reasons.( Affordability , support system , odd hours ,and finally perceived fear of untoward complication !)

Primary PCI may be a great treatment modality , but it comes with a inherent risk related to the procedure.

In fact the early hazard could exceed the potential benefit in many of the low risk STEMI patients !

All STEMI’s are not same , so all does not require same treatment !

Common sense and logic would tell us any medical condition should be risk stratified before applying the management protocol. This will enable us to avoid applying “high risk – high benefit” treatments in low risk patients . It is a great surprise, the cardiology community has extensively researched to risk stratify NSTEMI/UA , it has rarely considered risk stratification of STEMI before starting the treatment.

In this context , it should be emphasized most of the clinical trails on primary PCI do not address the clinical relevance and the differential outcomes in various subsets of STEMI .

Consider the following two cases.

Two young men with STEMI , both present within 3 hours after onset of symptoms

  1. ST elevation in V1 -V6 , 1 , AVL , Low blood pressure , with severe chest pain.
  2. ST elevation in 2 ,3, AVF , hemodynamically stable , with minimal or no discomfort .

In the above example, a small inferior MI by a distal RCA occlusion , and a proximal LAD lesion jeopardising entire anterior wall , both are categorized as STEMI !
Do you want to advocate same treatment for both ? or Will you risk stratify the STEMI and treat individually ? (As we do in NSTEMI !)

Current guidelines , would suggest PCI for both situations. But , logistic , and real world experience would clearly favor thrombolysis for the second patient .
Does that mean, the second patient is getting an inferior modality of treatment ?

Not at all . In fact there is a strong case for PCI being inferior in these patients as the risk of the procedure may far outweigh the benefit especially if it is done on a random basis by not so well experienced cath lab team.
(Note : Streptokinase or TPA does not vary it’s action , whether given by an ambulance drive or a staff nurse or even a cardiologist ! .In contrast , the infrastructure and expertise have the greatest impact on the success and failure of PCI )
Final message

So , it is argued the world cardiology societies(ACC/ESC etc) need to risk stratify STEMI (Like we do in NSTEMI ) into low risk, intermediate risk and high risk categories and advice primary PCI only for high risk patients.

Reference

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/226907

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How good is Troponin T to rule out acute coronary syndrome in the emergency room ?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on May 7, 2009| Leave a Comment »

04_16

How good is Troponin T or I  to rule out acute coronary syndrome in the emergency room  when a  patient presents  within two to three hours after the onset of symptoms ?

  1. Very useful
  2. Useful
  3. Rarely useful
  4. Not useful
  5. Not at all useful

The answer is  5 , can be 3 or  4 , never 1 or 2 !

If you are surprised with the answer

Findout why , read further

troponin-i-troponin-t1

19_trop-t-sen1

troponin-i-troponin-t-2Final message

Troponin has a definite diagnostic  and prognostic value in  STEMI or NSTEMI  but relying on a single normal troponin level very early after an ACS can be . . . futile.

Realis,   diagnosis of ACS , especially  STEMI , is primarily by ECG and clinical features . Even in NSTEMI biomarkers help primarily to risk stratify the event. Bio markers come into picture only in borderline  ECGs and in baseline ECG defect like LBBB/Pacing rhythm .

It should be recognised , the major draw back of cardiac markers is , it  does not represent real time cardiac myocyte  events. (But the good old ECG has this unique property !) .The myocyte secretion & release  kinetics , the effect of  native (and pharmocological ) reperfusion make it a unreliable  marker.Apart from the time lag  , the  laboratory methods to detect these  molecule needs further refinement.

For the current day cardiologists ,  it is  required to finish off the entire treatment  of MI  within 6  hours by doing a primary PCI . It is an irony , troponin begins to appear only by  then to be detected in the blood !

Further reading

A .All about troponin

http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/142/9/786

B.Troponin In aortic dissection

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15887472

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Biochemical diagnosis of ventricular remodelling

Posted in Cardiology - Clinical, cardiology -Therapeutics, Cardiology -unresolved questions, cardiology- coronary care, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 7, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Ventricular remodeling  follows large myocardial infarction .This term denotes to  change in size , shape  and function  of the ventricle   due to altered  myocyte geometry .It is now believed  , this  process begins to occur very early  following a STEMI.(less than 24hours)

lv-remodeling

In which MI remodeling is more common ?

Any MI of large size , especially  anterior  and lateral MI.  Inferior and posterior MI are less affected by adverse remodeling.The incidence is up to 20% of all myocardial infarction ,  if left untreated. Ventricular aneurysm formation and dyskinetic segments can be termed as the worst form of remodeling. The old terminologies of infarct extension and expansion could by synonymous with ventrilar   remodeling .(Note : Every patient with STEMI undergoes some form of physiological remodeling that should not be confused with progressive pathological remodeling , we are discussing  here ! )

What is the clinical impact of remodeling ? How to prevent it ?

Progressive cardiac failure and a  poor outcome .  It may provoke ventricular arrhythmias. ACE inhibitors (CONSENSUS study 1992 )  has since revolutionized  the pharmacological  prevention of adverse remodeling.

How to recognise left ventricular remodeling ?

Many methods are available .

  • 2 D Echocardiography
  • Tissue doppler
  • LV angiogram
  • MRI

These imaging methods diagnose remodeling  only after it manifest* .We know remodeling is a cellular and molecular process .The earliest trigger for remodeling is the mechanical stretch and wall stress on the ventricles.Large areas of necrosed myocardium and  the adjacent normal myocardium sets a perfect stage for eccentric pulling of myocardial segments and unregulated slippage of myocytes.

* Diagnosing fully established  ventricular remodeling  serves ,  no great   purpose as it is very difficult to reverse it by pharmacological methods.it requires complex surgery.

What is the effect of mechanical stretch on cellular function ?

It is well known  myocyte granules secrete Type B  -Naturetic peptide  in response to stretch. It could be a very early sign of adverse remodeling. So monitoring of  BNP may give us an opportunity to intensively treat those patients who are likely to land in progressive cardiac failure.

A baseline level of NT-proBNP >120 pmol/L identified patients  prone for adverse remodeling .Serial measurements showed further increase. It is possible to identify adverse remodeling of LV by documenting fresh elevation of BNP following MI .

Reference :

1 )Nilsson JC, Groenning BA, Nielsen G, et al. Left ventricular remodeling in the first year after acute myocardial infarction and the predictive value of N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide. Am Heart J 2002;143:696-702.

2)http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/352/7/666#R24

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What is the most important criteria for doing a PCI in CAD ? The secret 6th criteria !

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 4, 2009| 1 Comment »

pci-ptca-ebm-stent

Scientifically ,  the  indication for coronary revascularisation   should be  based on following

  1. Patient’s  symptom ( more specifically angina , dyspnea is less important !)
  2. Prov0kable  ischemia  ( A significantly positive stress test )
  3. Signifcant LV dysfunction with  documented  viable myocardium &  residual ischemia
  4. A revascularisation eligible coronary anatomy * TVD/Left main/Proximal LAD etc ( *Either 1, 2 or 3 should be  present  in addition )
  5. All emergency PCI during STEMI /High risk NSTEMI

Practically ,

A CAD  patient  may fulfill  “Any of the above 5 “ or  “None of the above 5” ,  but ,  if   a coronary obstruction  was  revealed  by coronary angiogram  and if he  fulfils The 6th criteria , he becomes  eligible for  revascualrisation

6th criteria

If the patient has  enough monetary   resources (by self  ) or by  an  insurance company  to take care of PCI /CABG *

*The sixth  criteria overrides all other criteria in many of the cath labs .Of course , there are few genuine ones still  fighting hard , to keep the commerce out ,  from contaminating cardiology !

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Why is sudden cardiac death uncommon in women ?

Posted in Cardiology - Clinical, Cardiology - Electrophysiology -Pacemaker, cardiology -ECG, Cardiology-Arrhythmias, Cardiology-Coronary artery disese, Infrequently asked questions in cardiology (iFAQs), tagged , , , , , , , on March 17, 2009| Leave a Comment »

To further understand women's heart click on the title

SCD  continues to be  the major mode of  death of  our  population . Millions of men die every year instantly .The commonest mechanism is due to primary ventricular fibrillation following an abrupt closure of coronary artery due to a thrombus.Most die , within few minutes of the event, some  before reaching the hospital , few within the ambulance  and an  unlucky few die on the CCU bed  or cath lab table even after getting the best treatment.

If we analyse the data, there is a  surprising fact !  Men form the bulk of these SCD victims.In our experience , out of 100 cases of consecutive  in hospital primary VF only  6 were females , indicating  an important  biological phenomenon to be studied.The data for out of hospital primary VF is more difficult to get , but the  log records of EMRI and emergency rescue team consistently confirm the male preponderance of primary VF .

How  does the female heart enjoys this relative immunity from primary VF even as the blood supply is acutely compromised ?

The answer  is  not known . If we are able to  decode this , one can replicate the same  model in male .

The QT paradox and incidence of primary VF

QT interval represents a combination of  electrical depolarisation and repolarisation .It is a well established   scientific  fact  that  women have   relatively  prolonged QT interval .This  is determined by evolutionary biology and  inherited characteristics of  potassium channels  during myocardial repolarisation

In simple terms, the female heart  knows how to relax slowly and prolong the electrical relaxation time.(Not mechanical)

It is also a well known  fact ischemia mediated a prolonged  QT interval is a trigger for dangerous ventricular arrhythmia.This ischemia induced QT prolongation is less pronounced in females than males as the baseline QT itself is slightly longer in women.The percentage increment of QT interval during acute ischemia is significantly higher in male .This could be one reason for the preponderance of VF in men

The billion dolor question and a real challenge for the cardiologists is

How to make a heart electrically inert during ongoing ischemia ?

  • Pain is also trigger for primary VF due to high adrenergic tone.Prompt control of chest pain make VF less likely.
  • Lignoacaine a myocardial anesthetic if administered quickly can prevent many of the primary VF.

And now , shall we  think little wildly !

What if , if  we administer lignocaine spray straight over the (or sublingually ) in every patient with  chest pain

as like a sport injury and try calm down the heart electrically !

Also read

1.Lignocaine  the forgotten hero .

2.View this video -Ignorance based cardiology !

Reference

Arrhythmias and sex hormones


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