Serum prostacyclin levels in unstable coronary heart disease

ABSTRACT

To examine the diagnostic value of abnormal serum Prostacyclin [PG12] level as a marker of instability of coronary heart disease, 30 patients [[12 with unstable angina [UA], 8 with acute myocardial infarction [AMI], and 10 with stable effort angina [EA]], and 10 normal adults were studied. Clinical evaluation, as well as estimation of plasma 6-keto-prostaglandin F1 alpha have been carried out for all subjects. Statistical analysis of the results showed the wide dispersion of the prostacyclin values. Median, 25th, and 75th percentiles were adopted for measuring central and dispersion tendencies. The median together with the 25th and 75th percentiles of the 3 ischemic groups were clearly lower than those of the control group. No significant differences in prostacyclin values were present between different subsets of patients with coronary heart disease [CHD]. In spite of the limited number of patients, this study points to a limited diagnostic value for this test in patients with CHD