[Severity of coronary artery disease in patients with acute coronary syndrome without ST segment elevation]

Risk stratification of patients presenting to the hospital with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is usually based on ECG assessment, and several clinical and biochemical criteria, which are all intended to identify subjects with more severe disease, who might benefit from aggressive medical or interventional treatment. However, no one widely accepted jeopardy score is available. Our aim was to determine whether the initial ECG, biochemical data and past medical history correlate with the extent of coronary artery disease in patients with ACS thus identifying subjects with severe coronary artery disease (CAD) who may benefit from the early invasive strategy. Patients' data was prospectively collected and retrospectively analysed according to the result of angiography examination. Our cohort consisted of 220 consecutive patients hospitalised due to typical chest pain (> 5 min.) occurring at rest within the last 24 hours. Study group comprised of 115 patients, who were subsequently subjected to coronary angiography Blood for qualitative troponin I test (Cardiac STATus, Spectral Inc., NJ, USA), and other routine biochemistry tests was drawn and ECG was done on admission. Chi-square and Pearson correlation tests were used for statistical analysis, p < 0.05 being considered statistically significant. Stepwise forward regression analysis was used to identify variables predictive of significant coronary artery stenosis. We have identified 65 patients with significant and 5 patients with insignificant multivessel stenosis, 33 patients with significant and 7 patients with insignificant single vessel disease. Five patients had normal coronary arteries. Male sex was significantly more prevalent among patients with coronary artery disease than with normal arteries (71% vs. 40%, p = 0.02). No differences in biochemistry values were seen among the groups. There was a significant difference in the prevalence in ST segment depression (p = 0.03) among these patients and in the incidence of plasma fibrinogen levels of >380 mg% (p = 0.02), those findings being most frequently encountered in significant multi- and single-vessel disease subjects. Hypertension, myocardial infarction more than 10 days ago, history of smoking, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes were independent predictors of the presence of significant stenosis. Assessment of admitting ECG and troponin I together with patients medical history may allow for identification of ACS patients with significant CAD that may benefit from early invasive treatment.