Markers of thrombin generation are associated with myocardial necrosis and left ventricular impairment in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction.

INTRODUCTION

Platelet activation, thrombin generation and fibrin formation play important roles in intracoronary thrombus formation, which may lead to acute myocardial infarction. We investigated whether the prothrombotic markers D-dimer, pro-thrombin fragment 1 + 2 (F1 + 2) and endogenous thrombin potential (ETP) are associated with myocardial necrosis assessed by Troponin T (TnT), and left ventricular impairment assessed by left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and N-terminal pro b-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP).

MATERIALS/METHODS: Patients (n = 987) with ST-elevation mycardial infarction (STEMI) were included. Blood samples were drawn at a median time of 24 h after onset of symptoms.

RESULTS

Statistically significant correlations were found between both peak TnT and D-dimer (p < 0.001) and F1 + 2 (p < 0.001), and between NT-proBNP and D-dimer (p = 0.001) and F1 + 2 (p < 0.001). When dividing TnT and NT-proBNP levels into quartiles there were significant trends for increased levels of both markers across quartiles (all p < 0.001) D-dimer remained significantly associated with NT-proBNP after adjustments for covariates (p = 0.001) whereas the association between NTproBNP and F1 + 2 was no longer statistically significant (p = 0.324). A significant inverse correlation was found between LVEF and D-dimer (p < 0.001) and F1 + 2 (p = 0.013). When dichotomizing LVEF levels at 40 %, we observed significantly higher levels of both D-dimer (p < 0.001) and F1 + 2 (p = 0.016) in the group with low EF (n = 147).

SUMMARY/CONCLUSION: In our cohort of STEMI patients we demonstrated that levels of D-dimer and F1 + 2 were significantly associated with myocardial necrosis as assessed by peak TnT. High levels of these coagulation markers in patients with low LVEF and high NTproBNP may indicate a hypercoagulable state in patients with impaired myocardial function.