Interplay Between Inflammation and Hemostasis in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a global epidemic currently. This study was planned to evaluate markers of inflammation and hemostasis and their possible association, if any, in patients with CAD. The study was carried out in 60 patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and 60 age and gender matched controls. The following parameters were assayed in all study subjects-inflammatory-interleukin (IL)-10, high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, fibrinogen; hemostatic-fibrinogen, fibrin D-dimer and a novel risk factor—homocysteine. Inflammatory markers (hs-CRP, TNF-α and IL-10), fibrinogen, fibrin D-dimer and homocysteine levels were significantly higher in the patients with AMI, as compared with controls. A positive correlation was observed between D-dimer and the inflammatory markers—hs-CRP and TNF-α. Upon multivariate analysis, TNF-α emerged as the best determinant of CAD in our study. Our results indicate that there is a possible interplay of inflammation and hemostasis in CAD, underlining their synergistic role in the pathogenesis of CAD.