Hemodynamic studies for prediction of acute myocardial infarction outcomes

Andrius Macas¹, Algimantas Kriščiukaitis^{2, 3}, Kristina Buivydaitė^{1, 4}, Giedrė Bakšytė¹, Remigijus Žaliūnas¹

¹Department of Cardiology, ²Department of Physics, Mathematics and Informatics, ³Institute for Biomedical Research, ⁴Institute of Cardiology, Kaunas University of Medicine, Lithuania

Key words: hemodynamic monitoring; acute myocardial infarction; risk scores; outcome prediction.

Summary. Prediction of outcomes after acute myocardial infarction was initiated more than 40 years ago. Improvement of the management options significantly reduced mortality of patients with acute myocardial infarction. In the 1960s, the mortality rate of inpatients was around 25–30%, whereas in 2007, according to the guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes, issued by the European Society of Cardiology, hospital mortality in patients with ST-elevation acute myocardial infarction was 7%, while in patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome just 5%, but at 6 months, mortality rates were very similar in both conditions (12% vs. 13%, respectively).

There are different criteria for prediction of acute myocardial infarction: demographic, clinical, laboratory, instrumental, and epidemiological. Data of hemodynamic studies are ones of the possible criteria for prediction of outcomes after acute myocardial infarction. Methods and findings of hemodynamic studies used for prediction of the outcomes are presented in this article.

Correspondence to A. Macas, Department of Cardiology, Kaunas University of Medicine, Eivenių 2, 50009 Kaunas, Lithuania. E-mail: andrius.macas@kmuk.lt

Received 8 May 2008, accepted 13 August 2008