Efficacy and safety of short-term intensive statin therapy in patients with acute coronary syndrome / 中华全科医师杂志

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of short-term intensive statin therapy in patients with acute coronary syndrome ( ACS) .Methods A total of 218 ACS patients admitted in Hangzhou First People′s Hospital from March 2013 to July 2013 were enrolled into this study .The patients were randomly assigned to receive atorvastatin 80 mg/d during hospitalization , and 40 mg/night after discharge for one month ( intensive group , n=107 );or receive atorvastin 20 mg during hospitalization and 20 mg/night after discharge for one month ( control group, n =111 ).The biochemical indexes were measured on the admission and after one-month treatment.Results After one-month treatment, the total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL cholesterol of intensive group were significantly lower , and the high density lipoprotein cholesterol was higher than baseline values ( 0.75 ±0.14 ) mmol/L vs.( 1.52 ±0.88 ) mmol/L, P<0.05;(2.21 ±0.78)mmol/L vs.(4.55 ±1.12)mmol/L, P<0.05;(1.76 ±0.31)mmol/L vs.(2.23 ±0.77) mmol/L, P<0.05; (1.15 ±0.34) vs.(1.52 ±0.41) mmol/L, P<0.05.The liver enzymes creatine kinase in intensive group was not significantly changed , but the creatinine levels decreased (82.53 ±23.85)μmol/L vs.(57.81 ±15.27) μmol/L, P<0.05, and the blood homocysteine and ultra-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels also decreased compared with the baseline ( 10.52 ±4.66 ) mmol/L vs.(30.70 ±18.82 ) mmol/L, P <0.05;( 8.06 ±2.68 ) mg/L vs.( 19.75 ±11.91 ) mg/L, P <0.05. Conclusions Short-term intensive statin therapy can effectively reduce blood lipid , cholesterol and homocysteine levels and raise HDL cholesterol levels; also with its anti-inflammatory and renal protective effect the therapy can provide more clinical benefit for patients with ACS .

N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide is associated with severity of the coronary lesions in unstable angina patients with preserved left ventricular function.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the association between N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) values and the severity of coronary lesions at angiography in unstable angina patients with preserved left ventricular function. METHODS: A total of 133 patients with primary diagnosis of unstable angina were enrolled into this study. NT-proBNP level was determined before the angiography and Gensini score, a measurement of extent of myocardial ischemia, was calculated after the angiography by experienced cardiologists. Patients with >50% stenosis of the left main or 75% stenosis of one or more coronary branches with diameter >2 mm were defined as "angiography positive" and turned to percutaneous coronary intervention. RESULTS: There was a significant difference of circulating NT-proBNP level between the angiography positive and negative groups and the median NT-proBNP values were 367.5 pg/mL and 112 pg/mL, respectively (P < 0.001). A significant correlation was observed between log NT-proBNP and log Gensini score (P < 0.001). NT-proBNP level was a predictor of angiography positive result and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.776 (95% CI 0.693-0.858). CONCLUSIONS: NT-proBNP level was found to be higher with the severity of myocardial ischemia. However, the ability of NT-proBNP to identify clinically significant angiographic lesions was moderate.

Diagnostic value of serum ischemia modified albumin in coronary artery disease / 中华全科医师杂志

Objective To assess value of serum level of ischemia modified albumin (IMA) in diagnosis for myocardial ischemia of coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods Seventy-two patients with clinically suspected myocardial ischemia of CAD admitted to The First People's Hospital of Hangzhou during November 2009 to May 2010 ready for undergoing coronary angiography, the gold standard for diagnosis of CAD, were randomly selected for the study. The patients were divided into CAD and non-CAD groups based on their coronary angiography. Serum level of IMA was determined with cobalt-albumin binding ( ACB) assay before coronary angiography, which served as diagnostic standard for CAD. Logistic regression analysis method was used to evaluate varied levels of IMA with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUCROC) in diagnosis for myocardial ischemia of CAD. Results Mean level of IMA was (97 ±24) U/ml and (81 ±15) U/ml for CAD group (n =51) and non-CAD group (n =21), respectively. Sensitivity and specificity of a cut-off value of IMA 83.69 U/ml in diagnosis for myocardial ischemia of CAD was 80 percent and 57 percent, respectively, with a predictive value of a positive test 82 percent and that of a negative test 55 percent, respectively, from AUCROC. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that both hypertension (P=0. 022, 6 = 1.421, OR=4. 141) and level of IMA (P=0.003, b= 1.780, OR=5.928) were independent predictors for CAD. Conclusions Sensitivity, specificity and predictive value of a positive test of the level of IMA are relatively high in diagnosis for myocardial ischemia of CAD, which is an independent predictor of it.

Diagnostic value of cardiopulmonary exercise test for coronary heart disease / 中华全科医师杂志

Cardiopulmonary exercise test and electrocardiogram exercise test were performed in 68 patients with suspected coronary artery disease,the diagnostic value of two tests was compared with coronary angiography results as the gold standard.The results show that the sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value and negative predictive value of electrocardiogram exercise test for coronary heart disease were 51.28％,68.97％,68.97％ and 51.28％ respectively; those for ratio of O2 pulse peak in cardiopulmonary exercise test were 51.28％,75.86％,74.07％ and 53.66％ respectively.It suggests that the results of cardiopulmonary exercise test may have the same value as electrocardiogram exercise test in diagnosis of coronary artery disease.

Study of long-term safety and efficacy of domestic Firebird rapamycin-eluting stent / 中华老年医学杂志

Objective To evaluate the long-term safety and efficacy of domestic Firebird rapamycin-eluting stent in treatment of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods The 465 patients with CAD received percutaneous interventional therapy with domestic Firebird or imported Cypher rapamycin-eluting stent based on patients' will and they were followed up for more than 24 months. Results The 321 cases in Firebird group were followed up for (45.3 ±11.1)months, with 166 cases (51.7%) received reexamination by coronary angiography. The 144 patients in Cypher group were followed up for (46.1 ± 12. 1) months, with 82 patients (56.3%) received reexamination by coronary angiography. At the termination of follow-up, there were no significant differences in all-cause death (7.8% vs. 7.6 %, x2 = 1.32, P = 0. 250), cardiac death (5.9% vs.5.6%, x2 =0. 02, P=0. 877), acute myocardial infarction (2.8% vs. 3.4%, x2 =0. 15, P=0. 697),cardiovascular-cause rehospitalization (29.6% vs. 31.9 %, x2 =0.26, P=0. 610), acute and subacute thrombosis events (0.9% vs. 1.3%, x2 =0.19, P=0.661), late thrombotic events (1.2% vs.1.3%, x2 =0. 02, P=0. 900) and target lesion revascularization (3.4% vs. 4.2%, x2 =0. 15, P=0. 694) between two groups. Conclusions Domestic Firebird rapamycin-eluting stent has the same or similar long-term safety and efficacy with imported Cypher rapamycin-eluting stent.

Effect of the plasma interleukin- 1β level on prognosis of patients with ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction / 中华急诊医学杂志

Objective Atherosclerosis is widely accepted as a chronic inflammatory disease. Serum biomarkers for vulnerable plaques not only serve as diagnostic tools for the identification of patients with acute coro-nary syndrome, but also assist the identification of high-risk patients. However, the existing data are limited and conflicting. In the present study, we determined whether the plasma levels of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) are correlated with adverse cardiac outcomes in patients with ST-evaluate acute myocardial infarction (STEAMI) undergoing pri-mary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Effect of the plasma intedeukin-1β level on prognosis of patients with ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction. Method This prospective single-center study included 96 patients with SIEAMI with onset < 12 h who underwent primary PCI, 271 patients with stable angina pectoris (SAP) and 148 control subjects without coronary artery disease who were consecutively admitted to hospital be-tween Mar, 2006 and Mar, 2008. Plasma IL-1β levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in all subjects. The patients with STEAMI were then followed prospectively for the occurrence of major adverse car-diac events (MACE) (including cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, heart failure, and cardio-genie shock) during hospitalization. We determined the association between IL-1β levels with the risk of MACE using multivariate logistic regression. Results Compared with the SAP patients and control subjects, patients with STEAMI had higher levels of IL-1β (P < 0.05). During hospitalization, 32 patients (33.3%) experienced MACE [23 males, 9 females; age: (75.44±13.45) years]. In the STEAMI patients, IL-1β was elevated in patients with MACE compared with patients without MACE (median [range]: 26.52 [12.010 to 155.244] pg/mL vs 2.157 [0.433 to 83.021] pg/mL; P < 0.01) by non-parameter analysis. Significant and positive correlations be-tween IL-1β and cardiac troponin-I (cTnI) (r = 0.353, P =0.004) were observed by Spearman's correlations analysis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that IL-1β levels ≥20 pg/mL were significantly and in-dependently associated with MACE during hospitalization (odds ratio: 32.05; 95% confidence interval: 4.28 to 240.151; P =0.001). Conclusions The present study revealed that patients with STEAMI had elevated IL-1β levels on admission. The plasma IL- 1β level is an independent inflammatory predictor for in-hospital MACE in pa-tients with STEAMI undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.