IMR Press / RCM / Volume 25 / Issue 4 / DOI: 10.31083/j.rcm2504123
Open Access Original Research
The Impact of Flow-Mediated Vasodilatation on Mechanism and Prognosis in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome: A FMD and OCT Study
Bin Zhu1,2,†Qiuwen Wu1,2,†Kunlei Yan1,2,†Gang Liu1,2Haibo Jia1,2Sining Hu1,2Fan Wang1,2Wei Meng1,2Ming Zeng1,2Xi Chen1,2Bo Yu1,2Shuo Zhang1,2,*
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1 Department of Cardiology, The 2nd Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, 150086 Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
2 The Key Laboratory of Medical Ischemia, Chinese Ministry of Education, 150086 Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
*Correspondence: zhangshuoemail@163.com (Shuo Zhang)
These authors contributed equally.
Rev. Cardiovasc. Med. 2024, 25(4), 123; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.rcm2504123
Submitted: 25 July 2023 | Revised: 20 November 2023 | Accepted: 5 December 2023 | Published: 28 March 2024
Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Background: Endothelial dysfunction, characterized by impaired flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD), is associated with atherosclerosis. However, the relationship between FMD, plaque morphology, and clinical outcomes in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) remains underexplored. This study aims to investigate the influence of FMD on the morphology of culprit plaques and subsequent clinical outcomes in patients with ACS. Methods: This study enrolled 426 of 2482 patients who presented with ACS and subsequently underwent both preintervention FMD and optical coherence tomography (OCT) between May 2020 and July 2022. Impaired FMD was defined as an FMD% less than 7.0%. Major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) included cardiac death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, revascularization, or rehospitalization for angina. Results: Within a one-year follow-up, 34 (8.0%) patients experienced MACEs. The median FMD% was 4.0 (interquartile range 2.6–7.0). Among the patients, 225 (52.8%) were diagnosed with plaque rupture (PR), 161 (37.8%) with plaque erosion (PE), and 25 (5.9%) with calcified nodules (CN). Impaired FMD was found to be associated with plaque rupture (odds ratio [OR] = 4.22, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.07–6.72, p = 0.012) after adjusting for potential confounding factors. Furthermore, impaired FMD was linked to an increased incidence of MACEs (hazard ratio [HR] = 3.12, 95% CI: 1.27–6.58, p = 0.039). Conclusions: Impaired FMD was observed in three quarters of ACS patients and can serve as a noninvasive predictor of plaque rupture and risk for future adverse cardiac outcomes.

Keywords
acute coronary syndrome
flow-mediated vasodilatation
optical coherence tomography
plaque rupture
outcomes
Funding
LH2021H027/Joint Guidance Project of Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province of China
Figures
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