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Importance: Elevated plasma glucose levels in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) on hospital admission are associated with increased mortality. Clinical trials of glucose regulation have provided inconsistent results with respect to cardiovascular outcomes, perhaps because target glucose levels have been suboptimal., Objective: To study the effectiveness and safety of intensive glucose management in patients with ACS who have hyperglycemia, aiming at strict blood glucose normalization., Design, Setting, and Participants: Single-center, prospective, open-label, randomized clinical trial in a large teaching hospital. Patients with ACS with an admission plasma glucose level of 140 to 288 mg/dL were eligible for inclusion and enrolled from July 23, 2008, to February 8, 2012. Patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus were excluded. Informed consent was obtained from 294 patients, who were randomized. Of these, 93.6% received percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)., Interventions: Intensive glucose management strategy, aiming at a plasma glucose level of 85 to 110 mg/dL by using intravenous insulin, or to conventional expectative glucose management., Main Outcomes and Measures: End points were assessed according to the intention-to-treat principle. The primary end point was high-sensitivity troponin T value 72 hours after admission (hsTropT72); secondary end points, area under the curve of creatine kinase, myocardial band (AUC-CK-MB), release and myocardial perfusion scintigraphy findings at 6 weeks' follow-up., Results: In the intensive management arm, median hsTropT72 was 1197 ng/L (25th and 75th percentiles of distribution, 541-2296 ng/L) vs 1354 ng/L (530-3057 ng/L) in the conventional arm (P = .41). Median AUC-CK-MB was 2372 U/L (1242-5004 U/L) vs 3171 U/L (1620-5337 U/L) (P = .18). The difference in median extent of myocardial injury measured by myocardial perfusion scintigraphy was not significant (2% vs 4%) (P = .07). Severe hypoglycemia (<50 mg/dL) was rare and occurred in 13 patients. Before discharge, death or a spontaneous second myocardial infarction occurred in 8 patients (5.7%) vs 1 (0.7%) (P = .04). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Intensive glucose regulation did not reduce infarct size in hyperglycemic patients with ACS treated with PCI, and was associated with harm. Future studies should focus on patients with ACS who have persistently elevated blood glucose after PCI, and should evaluate alternative strategies for optimizing glycemia., Trial Registration: www.trialregister.nl Identifier: NTR1205.

Background: Elevated plasma glucose levels on admission (APG) are very common in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and can be the first indication of diabetes mellitus., Objective: To provide insight into the prevalence of previously undiagnosed diabetes and to compare different methods of diagnosing diabetes in patients with ACS., Methods: Patients with ACS with elevated APG who participated in the BIOMArCS 2 glucose trial underwent an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) prior to discharge. 130 patients were included who underwent metabolic assessment. Of these, 109 had an OGTT and 13 patients had pre-existing diabetes., Results: The OGTT results were categorised as (previously) undiagnosed diabetes in 35% of patients (fasting plasma glucose (FPG) ≥7.0 mmol/l or 2-h post-load glucose ≥11.1 mmol/l) and impaired glucose metabolism in 44% (FPG 6.1-6.9 mmol/l or post-load glucose 7.8-11.0 mmol/l), so only 21% had a normal glucose metabolism. Undiagnosed diabetes could not be adequately predicted with APG, FPG or HbA1c (area under the ROC curve 0.61, 0.75 and 0.72, respectively). Patients with abnormal glucose metabolism were significantly older, had higher admission HbA1c values, a higher Killip classification and more often had a prior stroke than patients with normal glucose metabolism., Conclusion: 79% of hyperglycaemic patients with ACS were found to have abnormal glucose metabolism. As APG, HbA1c and FPG had a low sensitivity to detect undiagnosed diabetes, an OGTT appears to be the best test to assess the presence of previously undiagnosed diabetes or impaired glucose metabolism in hyperglycaemic patients with ACS.

Hyperglycemia upon admission of myocardial infarction patients predicts inferior clinical outcomes. Current strategies investigating hyperglycemia correction mostly use glucose-driven protocols. Implementation of these often labor-intensive protocols might be facilitated with the approach of a clinical pathway. Therefore, we evaluated the implementation of our glucose-driven protocol.We adapted a protocol for use in our coronary care unit (CCU), which was implemented according to the steps of a clinical pathway. To compensate for carbohydrates in meals we additionally developed a regimen of subcutaneous insulin.Protocol adherence was facilitated with a Web-based insulin calculator. All hyperglycemic patients admitted to the CCU were eligible for treatment according to this protocol.In a 4-month period, 643 glucose measurements were obtained in hyperglycemic patients admitted to our CCU. Patients were treated intensively with IV insulin for 35 hours and had 23 glucose measurements in this time span on average. This regimen achieved a median glucose of 6.2 mmol/L. Severe hypoglycemia occurred in only 1.1% of measurements and was without severe clinical side effects.Introduction of new intensive insulin protocol according to the steps of a clinical pathway is safe and feasible. The presence of a clinical pathway coordinator and sound communication are important conditions for successful introduction, which can be further aided with a computerized calculator.

Hyperglycemia is common among patients admitted with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and is associated with less favorable clinical outcomes. Guidelines for the treatment of hyperglycemia in myocardial infarction are confusing, partly because of lack of sufficient evidence. Neither do we know what the everyday practice on hyperglycemia in ACS is. Therefore the aim of our study is to describe current glucose management in ACS patients in The Netherlands. We designed a multiple-choice questionnaire that was emailed to all 94 independent cardiology departments of each of the 114 hospitals within The Netherlands. We interviewed cardiologists about their specific hospital setting, the presence, content, and actual use of a dedicated hyperglycemia protocol in the setting of ACS. Ninety-four questionnaires were returned (response rate 100%). Only 32% of the respondents reported to have a routinely applied, dedicated hyperglycemia protocol in the setting of ACS. An admission glucose of 13.0 mmol/L is considered a stress value by 60% of respondents. Treatment of hyperglycemia is postponed until after the acute phase (ie, after >6 hours) in 41% of the cardiology departments and in 76% HbA1c is not routinely measured before discharge. Only a minority of Dutch cardiology departments have a routinely applied, dedicated hyperglycemia protocol for patients admitted with ACS. Different views exist on the interpretation of admission hyperglycemia in patients without previously diagnosed diabetes. Dedicated protocols with well-established treatment goals allow early treatment and are mandatory to improve timely metabolic regulation.

Purpose: Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) has been associated with both protective and detrimental effects on the development of ischemic heart disease. The relationship between IGF-1 levels and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between IGF-1 admission levels in hyperglycemic ACS patients and: (1) MACE over a 5 years follow-up, (2) type 2 diabetes at discharge, and (3) post-ACS myocardial infarct size and dysfunction. Methods: This was a post hoc analysis of the BIOMArCS-2 randomized controlled trial. From July 2008 to February 2012, 276 ACS patients with admission plasma glucose level between 140 and 288 mg/dL were included. Records of the composite of all-cause mortality and recurrent non-fatal myocardial infarction were obtained during 5 years follow-up. Venous blood samples were collected on admission. IGF-1 was measured batchwise after study completion. Oral glucose tolerance test was performed to diagnose type 2 diabetes, whereas infarct size and left ventricular function were assessed by myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS) imaging, 6 weeks post-ACS. Results: Cumulative incidence of MACE was 24% at 5 years follow-up. IGF-1 was not independently associated with MACE (HR:1.00 (95%CI:0.99-1.00), p = 0.29). Seventy-eight patients (28%) had type 2 diabetes at discharge, and the highest quartile of IGF-1 levels was associated with the lowest incidence of diabetes (HR:0.40 (95%CI:0.17-0.95), p = 0.037). IGF-1 levels were not associated with post-ACS myocardial infarct size and dysfunction. Conclusions: IGF-1 carries potential for predicting type 2 diabetes, rather than long-term cardiovascular outcomes and post-ACS myocardial infarct size and dysfunction, in hyperglycemic ACS patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Admission plasma glucose (APG) is a biomarker that predicts mortality in myocardial infarction (MI) patients. Therefore, APG may improve risk stratification based on the GRACE risk score. Methods: We collected data on baseline characteristics and long-term (median 55 months) outcome of 550 MI patients who entered our hospital in 2003 and 2006. We determined the GRACE risk score at admission for each patient, which was entered in a logistic regression model, together with APG, to evaluate their prognostic value for 6-month and 5-year mortality. Results: Patients with APG ≥7.8 mmol/l had a higher mortality than those with APG levels <7.8 mmol/l; 6 months: 13.7 versus 3.6%, p value <0.001; 5 years: 20.4 versus 11.1%, p value 0.003. After adjustment for the GRACE risk score variables, APG appeared a significant predictor of 6-month and 5-year mortality, adjusted OR 1.17 (1.06-1.29) and 1.12 (1.03-1.22). The combination of the GRACE risk score and APG increased the model's performance (discrimination C-index 0.87 vs. 0.85), although the difference was not significant (p = 0.095). Combining the GRACE risk score and APG reclassified 12.9% of the patients, but the net reclassification improvement was nonsignificant (p = 0.146). Conclusion: APG is a predictor of 6-month and 5-year mortality, each mmol/l increase in APG being associated with a mortality increase of 17 and 12%, respectively, independent of the GRACE risk score. However, adding APG to the GRACE model did not result in significantly improved clinical risk stratification. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]