Although myocardial infarction (MI) mainly occurs in patients older than 45, young men or women can suffer MI. Fortunately, its incidence is not common in patients younger than 45 years. However, the disease carries a significant morbidity, psychological effects, and financial constraints for the person and the family when it occurs at a young age. The causes of MI among patients aged less than 45 can be divided into four groups: (1) atheromatous coronary artery disease; (2) non-atheromatous coronary artery disease; (2) hyper-coagulable states; (4) MI related to substance misuse. There is a considerable overlap between all the groups. This article reviews the literature and highlights the practical issues involved in the management of young adults with MI.
Patients with diabetes mellitus presenting with acute coronary syndrome have a higher risk of cardiovascular complications and recurrent ischemic events when compared to nondiabetic counterparts. Different mechanisms including endothelial dysfunction, platelet hyperactivity, and abnormalities in coagulation and fibrinolysis have been implicated for this increased atherothrombotic risk. Platelets play an important role in atherogenesis and its thrombotic complications in diabetic patients with acute coronary syndrome. Hence, potent platelet inhibition is of paramount importance in order to optimise outcomes of diabetic patients with acute coronary syndrome. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the increased thrombotic burden in diabetes and acute coronary syndrome, the underlying pathophysiology focussing on endothelial and platelet abnormalities, currently available antiplatelet therapies, their benefits and limitations in diabetic patients, and to describe potential future therapeutic strategies to overcome these limitations.
Serum TSH levels, particularly in the SCH range, are associated with higher thrombus burden despite optimal recommended secondary prevention therapy after NSTE-ACS. This may explain the higher CV risk seen in SCH patients. Future trials to assess the effect of individualized antithrombotic as well as thyroid hormone replacement therapy to reduce atherothrombotic risk in this population are needed.
Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is responsible for most of the deaths in patients with cardiovascular diseases. Diagnostic coronary angiography analysis offers an anatomical knowledge of the severity of the stenosis. The functional or physiological significance is more valuable than the anatomical significance of CAD. Clinicians assess the functional severity of the stenosis by resorting to an invasive measurement of the pressure drop and flow. Hemodynamic parameters, such as pressure wire assessment fractional flow reserve (FFR) or Doppler wire assessment coronary flow reserve (CFR) are well-proven techniques to evaluate the physiological significance of the coronary artery stenosis in the cardiac catheterization laboratory. Between the two techniques mentioned above, the FFR is seen as a very useful index. The presence of guide wire reduces the coronary flow which causes the underestimation of pressure drop across the stenosis which leads to dilemma for the clinicians in the assessment of moderate stenosis. In such condition, the fundamental fluid mechanics is useful in the development of new functional severity parameters such as pressure drop coefficient and lesion flow coefficient. Since the flow takes place in a narrowed artery, the blood behaves as a non-Newtonian fluid. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) allows a complete coronary flow simulation to study the relationship between the pressure and flow. This paper aims at explaining (i) diagnostic modalities for the evaluation of the CAD and valuable insights regarding FFR in the evaluation of the functional severity of the CAD (ii) the role of fluid dynamics in measuring the severity of CAD.
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