Coronary computed tomography angiography in patients with myocardial infarction and non-obstructed coronary arteries

ABSTRACT

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one cause of death worldwide. In India almost 30,000 people suffer an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) each year and, despite the greatly improved survival after AMI, CVD remains the leading cause of death among women and men. During the last decade, there has been increasing awareness of the significant minority of patients with acute myocardial infarction, for whom invasive coronary angiography (ICA) does not show any coronary artery stenoses. This condition is called myocardial infarction and non-obstructed coronary arteries (MINOCA) and is still incompletely understood. Aim of the study To investigate whether patients with MINOCA had a greater coronary plaque burden determined by coronary CTA than a control group matched by age and gender. Materials and methods: Totally 100 patients were included in the study Patients presenting to the department of cardiology, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Institute Kattangulathur, Kanchipuram District, Chennai with an ACS between January 2018 to May 2019. In the first step, patients with MINOCA were screened for the SMINC study Patients were eligible to take part in the study if they were between 35 and 70 years old, fulfilled the criteria for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) according to the universal definition of AMI and underwent ICA showing no or minimal signs Venkatesh Munusamy, Veeraraghavan Sriram, Dhandapani Vellala Elumalai. Coronary computed tomography angiography in patients with myocardial infarction and non-obstructed coronary arteries. IAIM, 2019; 6(8) 18-25. Page 19 of atherosclerosis (defined as the presence of plaque discernible on ICA, but no stenosis exceeding 30% by visual estimation). All patients also underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging at a median of 12 days after hospital admission. Results: MINOCA patients did not have more CAD than healthy controls, matched by age and gender. A large proportion of MINOCA patients had no signs of CAD at coronary CTA. Conclusion: Thus, MINOCA should not be considered a definitive diagnosis, but rather a working diagnosis, warranting additional diagnostic evaluation. Myocarditis is one of the conditions that may manifest itself as MINOCA. Findings of the SMINC study, where myocarditis was excluded by CMR, suggest that TS is an important cause of MINOCA. Other potential causes include CAD with rupture of a non-stenotic lesion, coronary artery spasm, thrombotic disorders, and microvascular dysfunction.