Published in:
01-03-2014 | Editorial Commentary
White blood count and infarct size, myocardial salvage and clinical outcomes: the role of differentials
Authors:
Nicholas G. Kounis, George D. Soufras, Grigorios Tsigkas, George Hahalis
Published in:
The International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging
|
Issue 3/2014
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Excerpt
Evidence suggests that inflammation, both local and systemic, plays an important role in the pathogenesis of acute myocardial infarction [
1]. There is also evidence that increased concentrations of inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein interleukin-2 and tumor necrosis factor can identify patients at high risk of future ischemic events, suggesting that the intensity of the inflammatory response influences clinical outcome in acute coronary syndromes [
2,
3]. Multiple studies have demonstrated also an association between elevated leucocyte count, which is a non-specific marker of inflammation, and the extent of coronary artery disease or increased short-term or long-term risk of death in patients with various manifestations of coronary artery disease [
4,
5]. Other studies [
6] have shown that total leucocyte count, but not C-reactive protein, predicts 1-year mortality in patients with acute coronary syndromes treated with percutaneous coronary intervention. Furthermore, recent studies have emphasized the usefulness of neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in predicting short-and long-term mortality, thrombus formation, infarct related artery patency, TIMI flow grade after primary coronary angioplasty, impaired myocardial perfusion, ventricular arrhythmias and critical limb ischemia [
7‐
9]. Indeed, in patients with non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction a ratio above 4.7 has been reported to be an independent predictor of short-term and long-term mortality [
7] and ratio >3.3 was found to be an independent predictor of impaired coronary flow after primary percutaneous coronary intervention and of in-hospital major adverse cardiac events in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction [
10]. …