Absence of a correlation between the ABO blood group and thrombus burden in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.

OBJECTIVE

ABO antigens are highly abundant in many human cell types, including platelets, vascular endothelium, and red blood cells. The presence of a thrombus is associated with adverse clinical outcomes in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). We reviewed the relationship between ABO blood groups and thrombus burden in patients with STEMI.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We carried out a retrospective study of 396 patients with STEMI who did not have an ABO blood group or thrombus burden. The ABO blood type of all participants was determined. First, angiographic characteristics ranging from a nonexistent thrombus to total occlusion were defined as grades 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively, using the thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) scoring system. After wiring and/or small balloon dilation, the patients were split into two groups according to the TIMI grade: large thrombus burden (LTB) (TIMI 4, n=66) and small thrombus burden (STB) (TIMI 0-3, n=330).

RESULTS

The prevalence rates of ABO blood and Rh types were similar between the groups (P>0.05). Moreover, no relationship was found between thrombus burden and the ABO blood group. The ABO blood group was not an independent predictor of large thrombus burden.

CONCLUSION

The present study showed that although previous studies have reported a relationship between the ABO blood type and thrombus burden in the STEMI population, we found no such relationship in our study.