Predictors of Intracoronary Heavy Thrombus Burden in Patients with ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction Undergoing Primary PCI within 12 hours from Chest Pain Onset

Abstract

STEMI occurs from occlusion of one or more of the coronary arteries that supply the heart with blood. The cause of this abrupt disruption of blood flow is usually plaque rupture, erosion, fissuring or dissection of coronary arteries that results in an obstructing thrombus (Canto et al., 2011; Hartikainen et al., 2020). In STEMI patients, the most important objective is to provide timely reperfusion modality with the goal of ischemic time being less than 120 minutes. Reperfusion therapy can be a form of PCI. Our study that included 200 consecutive patients who presented with STEMI within 12 hours from onset of chest pain and were managed by PCI. Patients were divided into 2 group, heavy thrombus burden group (thrombus grade 4 and 5) included 117patients (58.5%) while low thrombus burden group (thrombus grade 1, 2 and 3) included 83 patients 41.5%. We included all patients >18 years old who present with STEMI within 12 hours from onset of chest pain who undergo primary PCI.