Effectiveness of thrombolytic therapy in patients with acute myocardial infarction within 12 hours of symptoms

ABSTRACT

Background: Atherosclerotic coronary artery disease particularly myocardial infarction is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality all over the world and its incidence is also on the rise in Pakistan. This study was done to assess the effectiveness of thrombolytic therapy in patients with acute myocardial infarction and comparison between diabetics and non- diabetics.Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted at Department of Cardiology, Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur from January to June 2019. Total 380 patients of aged 30-70 years either male or female with diagnosis of acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction presenting within 12 hours of the onset of chest pain were selected. Patients were given thrombolytic therapy with Streptokinase 1.5 MIU over 1 hour and post therapy, efficacy was assessed.Results: Mean age of the patients was 51.37±10.08 years. Mean duration of diabetes mellitus was 5.99±3.47 years. Duration of chest pain ranged from 1 hour to 12 hours with mean duration of 4.66±2.98 hours. Out of 380 patients of MI, treatment was found effective in 202 (53.2%) patients. Female gender, type of MI, and duration of chest pain were significantly associated with reduced efficacy (p value < 0.05). Presence of hypertension, smoking, dyslipidemia or family history of MI did not alter the efficacy significantly (p>0.05) while patients having diabetes had significantly reduced efficacy (p value < 0.001).Conclusions: There is reduced effectiveness of thrombolytic therapy in diabetic patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction.