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There are few data available on the prognosis of painless ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The aim of this study was to determine the incidence, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of painless STEMI. We analyzed the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry (KAMIR) study, which enrolled 7,288 patients with STEMI (61.8 ± 12.8 years old, 74% men; painless STEMI group, n = 763; painful STEMI group, n = 6,525). End points were in-hospital mortality and 1-year major adverse cardiac events (MACEs). Patients with painless STEMI were older and more likely to be women, nonsmokers, diabetic, and normolipidemic and to have a higher Killip class. The painless group had more in-hospital deaths (5.9% vs 3.6%, p = 0.026) and 1-year MACEs (26% vs 19%, p = 0.002). In Cox proportional hazards analysis, hypotension (hazard ratio [HR] 4.40, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.41 to 13.78, p = 0.011), low left ventricular ejection fraction (HR 3.12, 95% CI 1.21 to 8.07, p = 0.019), and a high Killip class (HR 3.48, 95% CI 1.19 to 10.22, p = 0.023) were independent predictors of 1-year MACEs in patients with painless STEMI. In conclusion, painless STEMI was associated with more adverse outcomes than painful STEMI and late detection may have contributed significantly to total ischemic burden. These results warrant more investigations for methodologic development in the diagnosis of silent ischemia and painless STEMI. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The association between systemic inflammation and the estimated 10-year risk for coronary artery disease (CAD) according to the Framingham risk score is largely unknown. In this study, 6,371 participants in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) aged 40 to 79 years, who had no histories of heart attack, stroke, peripheral artery disease, or diabetes mellitus, were categorized into groups at low (<10%), intermediate (10% to 20%), and high (>20%) risk according to 10-year risk for CAD, calculated using the Framingham risk score modified by the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III. After adjustments for age, gender, race, body mass index, and co-morbidities, participants at high risk were more likely to have elevated circulating C-reactive protein levels (≥2.2 mg/L: adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.61, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.30 to 2.01, p <0.0001; >10.0 mg/L: OR 1.41, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.93, p = 0.034). The high-risk group had circulating fibrinogen, homocysteine, leukocyte, and platelet levels that were 20.98 mg/dl (95% CI 12.53 to 29.43, p <0.0001), 1.54 μmol/L (95% CI 0.76 to 2.32, p = 0.002), 0.90 μmol/L (95% CI 0.36 to 1.43, p = 0.001), 910/μl (95% CI 670 to 1,160, p <0.0001), and 10,220/μl (95% CI 2,830 to 17,610, p <0.0001) higher, respectively, than in those in the low-risk group. There was also a dose-dependent increase in circulating levels of inflammatory markers across the categories of CAD risk. In conclusion, these findings indicate that low-grade systemic inflammation and hyperhomocysteinemia were present in participants with high 10-year risk for CAD. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Zotarolimus-eluting stents (ZESs) demonstrated greater in-segment late luminal loss and in-segment binary restenosis rates compared to sirolimus-eluting stents (SESs) in several studies. However, no data are available in direct comparison between the clinical outcomes of the 2 stents in unselected patients with ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction (STEMI). The aim of the present study was to compare the clinical outcomes of ZESs and SESs in real-world patients with STEMI. A total of 873 patients with STEMI (306 patients in the ZES group and 567 patients in the SES group) were enrolled in a nationwide prospective Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry (KAMIR) from January 2007 to January 2008. The primary end points were major adverse cardiac events, a composite of all causes of death, myocardial infarction, and target lesion revascularization during a 12-month clinical follow-up. During 1 year of follow-up, the primary end points occurred in 140 patients (16.0%). The use of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors and the occurrence of multivessel disease were more common in the SES group. The SES group had a significantly lower incidence of major adverse cardiac events (hazard ratio [HR] 1.52, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.07 to 2.16, p = 0.02), target lesion revascularization (HR 2.16, 95% CI 1.01 to 4.59, p = 0.046), and target vessel revascularization (HR 2.24, 95% CI 1.18 to 4.24, p = 0.013). However, no significant differences were found in death or myocardial infarction (HR 1.37, 95% CI 0.91 to 2.05, p = 0.129). In conclusion, SESs provided superior angiographic outcomes, translating into better clinical outcomes and negating any change in STEMI patient safety profiles compared to ZESs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Assessment of risk at time of discharge could be a useful tool for guiding postdischarge management. The aim of this study was to develop a novel and simple assessment tool for better hospital discharge risk stratification. The study included 3,997 hospital-discharged patients with acute myocardial infarction who were enrolled in the nationwide prospective Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry-1 (KAMIR-1) from November 2005 through December 2006. The new risk score system was tested in 1,461 hospital-discharged patients who were admitted from January 2007 through January 2008 (KAMIR-2). The new risk score system was compared to the Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) postdischarge risk model during a 12-month clinical follow-up. During 1-year follow-up, all-cause death occurred in 228 patients (5.7%) and 81 patients (5.5%) in the development and validation cohorts, respectively. The new risk score (KAMIR score) was constructed using 6 independent variables related to the primary end point using a multivariable Cox regression analysis: age, Killip class, serum creatinine, no in-hospital percutaneous coronary intervention, left ventricular ejection fraction, and admission glucose based on multivariate-adjusted risk relation. The KAMIR score demonstrated significant differences in its predictive accuracy for 1-year mortality compared to the GRACE score for the developmental and validation cohorts. In conclusion, the KAMIR score for patients with acute myocardial infarction is a simpler and better risk scoring system than the GRACE hospital discharge risk model in prediction of 1-year mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic total occlusion (CTO) in a non-infarct-related artery (IRA) is an independent predictor of clinical outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). This study evaluated the impact of successful percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for CTO of a non-IRA on the long-term clinical outcomes in patients with AMI. A total of 4,748 patients with AMI were consecutively enrolled in the Convergent Registry of Catholic and Chonnam University for AMI registry from January 2004 to December 2009. We enrolled 324 patients with CTO in a non-IRA. To adjust for baseline differences, propensity matching (96 matched pairs) was used to compare successful PCI and occluded CTO for the treatment of CTO in non-IRA. The primary clinical end points were all-cause mortality and a composite of the major adverse cardiac events, including cardiac death, MI, stroke, and any revascularization during the 5-year follow-up. Patients who received successful PCI for CTO of non-IRA had lower rates of all-cause mortality (16.7% vs 32.3%, hazard ratio 0.459, 95% CI 0.251 to 0.841, p = 0.012) and major adverse cardiac events (21.9% vs 55.2%, hazard ratio 0.311, 95% CI 0.187 to 0.516, p <0.001) compared with occluded CTO group. Subgroup analyses revealed that successful PCI resulted in a better mortality rate in patients with normal renal function compared to patients with chronic kidney disease (p = 0.010). In conclusion, successful PCI for CTO of non-IRA is associated with improved long-term clinical outcomes in patients with AMI., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Stent length has been considered an important predictor of adverse events after percutaneous coronary intervention, even with the first-generation drug-eluting stents (DESs). The introduction of newer-generation DES has further reduced the rates of adverse clinical events such as restenosis, myocardial infarction, and stent thrombosis. The aim of this study was to compare the impact of stent length on the long-term clinical outcomes between first- and newer-generation DESs. The effects of stent length (≥32 vs <32 mm) on the clinical outcomes were evaluated in 8,445 patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention using either a first-generation DES (sirolimus- and paclitaxel-eluting stents, n = 6,334) or a newer-generation DES (everolimus- and zotarolimus-eluting stents, n = 2,111) from January 2004 to December 2009. The 3-year adverse outcomes (composite of all-cause death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, target vessel revascularization, and stent thrombosis) were compared using the inverse probability of treatment-weighted method according to the stent length. After adjustment for differences in the baseline risk factors, a stent length of ≥32 mm was significantly associated with higher cumulative rates of target vessel revascularization and stent thrombosis in the patients treated with a first-generation DES (adjusted hazard ratio 1.875, 95% confidence interval 1.531 to 2.297, p <0.001; adjusted hazard ratio 2.964, 95% confidence interval 1.270 to 6.917, p = 0.012), but it was not associated with the clinical outcomes in patients treated with a newer-generation DES. In conclusion, stent length might not be associated with long-term clinical outcomes in newer-generation DES era, whereas stent length might be associated with long-term clinical outcomes in the first-generation DESs., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The aim of this study was to compare clinical outcomes among early invasive (EI), deferred invasive (DI), and conservative strategies in patients with acute non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). High-risk patients with NSTEMI are believed to fare better with an EI strategy, but the optimal treatment for patients with NSTEMI and CKD is not known. In total 5,185 patients with acute NSTEMI were enrolled from the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry and followed for 1 year. Patients were divided into EI, DI, and conservative treatment groups and classified into 4 stages using references from the National Kidney Foundation. The invasive EI and DI groups were compared to the conservative groups, and the EI and DI groups were compared according to each renal function stage. At 1-year follow-up, mortality rates in the conservative group were significantly higher than in the invasive groups except for the severe CKD group. The benefit of the EI over the DI strategy, although there were no significant differences between the 2 groups, tended to decrease as renal function decreased. In conclusion, in the management of NSTEMI, an invasive strategy decreased mortality compared to a conservative strategy except for severe CKD. In the timing of an invasive strategy, the EI strategy was observed to be superior to the DI strategy in patients with mild CKD; however, this tendency reversed as renal function decreased. When patients with NSTEMI have severe CKD, a conservative or DI strategy with prescription of cardioprotective medications and prevention of further deterioration in renal function should be considered., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)