Twenty-year changes in the clinical and echocardiographic characteristics of patients with early postinfarction remodeling after primary ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction

Abstract

Aim. To compare structural and functional left ventricular (LV) changes in the early period of myocardial infarction (MI) within 20 years on the basis of the Emergency Cardiology Department of the Cardiology Research Institute (Tomsk).Material and methods. The study included two groups of patients who were treated at different periods of time with an interval of 20 years. Group 1 included 83 patients who had ST-segment elevation MI (STEMI) in 1997-1999, while group 2 — 83 patients with STEMI from 2019-2020. Echocardiography was performed during the first 72 hours from hospitalization and on the 7-10th day. Depending on the increase in LV end-diastolic volume (EDV) by >15% by the 7-10th day, the patients were divided into 2 subgroups: with remodeling (LVR+) and without remodeling (LVR-).Results. Patients of the 2nd group were older, with a larger proportion of females and with a high incidence of risk factors for coronary artery disease compared with patients of the 1st group. In the early postinfarction period among patients of the 2nd group, acute LV aneurysm, early postinfarction angina and Dressler syndrome developed less frequently. The proportion of adverse LV remodeling in patients of the 1st group was higher (32,8% vs 17%), and while the percentage of reverse remodeling was lower (10% vs 24%), p<0,05. Comparison of the absolute values of LV EDV, end-systolic volume (ESV) and ejection fraction (EF) at baseline and after 7 days, as well as their increase showed higher intensity of post-infarction remodeling in group 1 patients. In patients of the 1st group, there was a progression of LV remodeling (Me ΔEDV — 12,2%) with a deterioration in LV contractility by the 7th day (Me ΔESV — 14%), while in patients of the 2nd group during the first 7 days of MI, there were more stable LV EDV and ESV (p>0,05) and an increase in LVEF (p=0,03) before discharge.Conclusion. In the present era of primary percutaneous coronary intervention and pharmacological treatment of MI, early adverse LV remodeling develops less frequently and is characterized by less pronounced left heart dilatation.