• The Korean Journal of Medicine
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• v.93 no.6
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• pp.538-547
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• 2018

Background/Aims: The impact of left ventricular (LV) diastolic function and filling pressure on clinical outcomes in young patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has been poorly studied. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the impact of LV diastolic function and LV filling pressure on major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) in young patients with AMI. Methods: A total of 200 young patients (males < 45 year, females < 55 year) with AMI were divided into two groups according to the diastolic function; normal (n = 46, $39.5{\pm}5.3$ years) versus abnormal (n = 154, $43.5{\pm}5.1$ years). Results: Despite regional wall motion abnormalities, normal LV diastolic function was not uncommon in young AMI patients (23.0%). During the 40 months of clinical follow-up, MACEs developed in 26 patients (13.0%); 14 re-percutaneous coronary intervention (7.0%), 8 recurrent MI (4.0%), and 4 deaths (2.0%). MACEs did not differ between the normal and abnormal diastolic function group (13.6% vs. 10.9%, p = 0.810), but MACEs were significantly higher in the high LV filling pressure group than the normal LV filling pressure group (36.8% vs. 10.5%, p < 0.001). On multivariate analysis, high LV filling pressure was an independent predictor of MACEs (hazard ratio 3.022, 95% confidence interval 1.200-7.612, p = 0.019). Conclusions: This study suggested that measurement of the LV filling pressure (E/e' ratio) would be useful in the risk stratification of young patients with AMI. However, it would be necessary to monitor this category of patient more carefully.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.41-54
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• 2007

Background : The causes of chest pain vary but the leading cause of chest pain is ischemic heart disease. Mortality from ischemic chest pain has increased more than two fold over the last ten years. The purpose of this study was to determine the data necessary for rapid treatment of patients with signs and symptoms of ischemic chest pain in the emergency department (ED). Materials and Methods : We interviewed 170 patients who had ischemic chest pain in the emergency department of Yeungnam University Hospital over 6 months with a protocol developed for the evaluation. The protocol used included gender, age, arriving time, prior hospital visits, methods of transportation to the hospital, past medical history, final diagnosis, and outcome information from follow up. Results : Among 170 patients, there were 118 men (69.4%) and the mean age was 63 years. The patients diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) were 106 (62.4%) and with angina pectoris (AP) were 64 (37.6%). The patients who had visited another hospital were 68.8%, twice the number that came directly to this hospital (p<0.05). The ratio of patients who visited another hospital were higher for the AMI (75.5%) than the AP (59.4%) patients (p<0.05). The median time spent deciding whether to go to hospital was 521 minutes and for transportation was 40 minutes. With regard to patients that visited another hospital first, the median time spent at the other hospital was 40 minutes. The total median time spent before arriving at our hospital was 600 minutes (p>0.05). The patients who had a total time delay of over 6 hours was similar 54.8% in the AMI group and 57.9% in the AP group (p>0.05). As a result, only 12.2% of the patients with an AMI received thrombolytics, and 48.8% of them had a simultaneous percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). In the emergency department 8.5% of the patients with an AMI died. Conclusion : Timing is an extremely important factor for the treatment of ischemic heart disease. Most patients arrive at the hospital after a long time lapse from the onset of chest pain. In addition, most patients present to a different hospital before they arrive at the final hospital for treatment. Therefore, important time is lost and opportunities for treatment with thrombolytics and/or PCI are diminished leading to poor outcomes for many patients in the ED. The emergency room treatment must improve for the identification and treatment of ischemic heart disease so that patients can present earlier and treatment can be started as soon as they present to an emergency room.