Reperfusion Correlates and Clinical Outcomes of Right Ventricular Dysfunction in Patients With Inferior ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

We evaluated the relation between reperfusion indexes and right ventricular (RV) dysfunction in patients with inferior ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). We included patients with inferior STEMI undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention and right coronary artery as infarct-related artery. Myocardial reperfusion was evaluated by Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) flow, TIMI frame count, myocardial blush grade, and STsegment resolution. RV dysfunction was defined as tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion ≤16 mm in M-mode imaging. RV dysfunction was present in 58 of 141 patients (41.1%) and was more frequent in patients achieving suboptimal postprocedural TIMI flow grade (66.7% vs 36.7%, grades 0 to 2 vs 3, p = 0.01), TIMI frame count (63.2% vs 37.7%, 40 vs <40 frames, p = 0.04), and myocardial blush grade (33.3% vs 56.2%, grade 0 or 1 vs 2 or 3, p = 0.001). RV dysfunction rates did not differ according to ST-segment resolution. Patients with RV dysfunction had increased rates of cardiac death (13.2% vs 2.6%, p = 0.03), reinfarction (24.5% vs 10.3%, p = 0.03), and stent thrombosis (22.6% vs 6.4%, p = 0.01) at 2-year follow-up. Postprocedural TIMI flow grade 3 (odds ratio 0.25, 95% confidence interval 0.09 to 0.68, p = 0.007) was the only reperfusion correlate of RV dysfunction at multivariate analysis. In an independent cohort of 84 patients with STEMI, postprocedural TIMI flow grade 3 had a limited sensitivity (52%), with a high specificity (74.5%) and negative predictive value (71%) for excluding RV dysfunction. In conclusion, in patients with inferior STEMI undergoing coronary revascularization, RV dysfunction is associated with a worse long-term prognosis. Postprocedural TIMI flow grade may be a useful tool to predict RV dysfunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]