Cardiogenic shock in acute myocardial infarction. Improving survival rates by primary coronary angioplasty.

: This study reports on 16 patients suffering from cardiogenic shock in the setting of acute myocardial infarction (11 men, five women; average age: 52.5 +/- 14 years) treated by means of primary coronary angioplasty: These 16 patients were part of a total population of 261 patients suffering from acute myocardial infarction at the time of admittance to the Wuppertal Heart Center, who were consecutively treated during the period from 1/90 to 6/94 by primary coronary angioplasty without having received any prior thrombolytic therapy. For all patients, primary re-opening of the vessel infarcted was successful. The period of time between onset of pain until re-opening of the vessel averaged 176 +/- 49 min. Eleven patients suffered from multi-vessel coronary artery disease. Prior to re-opening, systolic blood pressures averaged 66 +/- 10 mm Hg; average biplan left ventricular ejection fraction, 40 +/- 12%; left ventricular end-diastolic pressures (LVEDP), 26 +/- 7 mm Hg. In 63% of the cases evaluated, it proved possible to document collaterals to the infarcted vessel. Thirteen patients survived acute coronary occlusion. Two patients died due to protracted myocardial pumping failure, despite re-opened arteries that effectively re-established coronary flows. Showing symptoms of re-occlusion, one patient developed electromechanical decoupling. Thirteen patients were discharged from the hospital for normal life or subsequent treatment. Overall, this corresponds to an in-hospital survival rate of 81%. During follow-up examinations performed over 14 +/- 8 months (range 3 to 30 months), all of the patients are alive. Mean left ventricular ejection fraction increased to 56% +/- 17%; mean left ventricular end-diastolic pressure dropped to 14 mm Hg +/- 5 mm Hg. In the infarct-related artery there was no recurrence of stenoses exceeding 50%. By now, one of the patients has received elective aorto-coronary bypass grafting; for another one, multi-vessel PTCA of non-infarcted arteries is being employed; 77% of the patients state that they are satisfied with the quality of their lives. These results demonstrate that rapid revascularization using coronary angioplasty in cardiogenic shock following acute myocardial infarction substantially improves the prognosis for survival and favorably influences long-term outcome. Thus, primary PTCA is the method of choice for treating cardiogenic shock; any patient-and particularly those resistant to lyse therapy-should immediately receive this treatment.