Clinical profile of patients with recanalised infarct related coronary artery after thrombolytic therapy.

Abstract: Background & Objective: Thrombolytic therapy plays a major role in the management of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The main goal in the treatment of AMI is early restoration of complete infarct artery perfusion. This study is aimed to analyze the clinical profile of patients who had complete recanalistaion of coronary artery after thrombolytic therapy, found by coronary angiogram. Methodology: A Retrospective Study conducted in the Cardiology department of Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute, Chennai. 50 patients with acute ST elevation Myocardial Infarction who underwent coronary angiogram and reported as recanalised coronary artery were included. Baseline characteristics like age, sex, clinical history, conventional risk factors, duration of symptoms, type of thrombolytic agent used and coronary angiogram results were analyzed in detail. Results: 52% of subjects were above 40 years of age. Only 36% of diabetic, 46% of hypertensive and 16% of dyslipidaemic patients had complete recanalisation. 76% of patients reached the hospital within the window period. 94% of patients had thrombolysis with streptokinase. 56% of patients with Anterior Wall MI (AWMI) and 20 % of patients with Inferior Wall MI (IWMI) had completely recanalised artery. Conclusion: Male sex was predominant in the study population. Risk factors like advancing age, dyslipidemia, diabetes, hypertension and alcoholism decrease the chances of complete recanalistaion. The chance of recanalistaion was more when the patient reached hospital within the window period. Recanalisation was more complete when there is Left Anterior Descending artery(LAD) involvement. Key words: Coronary artery disease, thrombolysis, recanalisation, streptokinase.