Diagnosis of Coronary Artery Rethrombosis after Effective Systemic Thrombolytic Therapy in Patients with ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction

The aim of the study was to evaluate the diagnostic significance of ST-segment re-elevation episodes registered with telemetric ECG monitoring in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) treated with thrombolytic therapy (TLT). The study included 117 patients with STEMI following effective TLT. The elective coronary angiography followed by percutaneous coronary interventions was performed in the interval from 3 to 24 hours after a successful systemic TLT. Before and after cardiac catheterization, the telemetric ECG monitoring was performed using AstroCard Telemetry system (Meditec, Russia). During the study, two groups of patients were formed. Group 1 included 85 patients (72.6%) without new ST-segment deviations on telemetry. 77 patients (90.6%) had no recurrent coronary artery thrombosis at angiography. Eight patients (9.4%) from group 1 were diagnosed with thrombosis of the infarct-related coronary artery. Group 2 included 32 patients (27.4%) who underwent TLT and then had ST-segment re-elevation episodes of 1 mV or more in the infarct-related leads, lasting for at least 1 minute. In group 2, in 27 of 32 patients (84.4%), thrombosis of the infarct-related coronary artery was confirmed (p<0.01 compared with group 1). In 71.9% cases, the recurrent ischemic episodes were asymptomatic ('painless myocardial ischemia') (p<0.01). Thus, in patients with STEMI and successful TLT, re-elevation of ST-segment during remote ECG monitoring is strongly related to angiographically documented coronary artery thrombotic reocclusion. The absence of chest pain during recurrent myocardial ischemia requires continuous ECG telemetry to select patients for the rescue percutaneous coronary interventions at an earlier stage.