title: Comparison of two visual angiographic perfusion grades in acute myocardial infarction.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Prognosis after opening the obstructed coronary artery in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is influenced by several factors. In routine clinical practice, revascularization is considered to be successful when the restoration of epicardial blood-flow is complete. However, the patent epicardial artery does not always provide functional recovery in the myocardium. There are two visual angiographic grades to assess myocardial perfusion: myocardial blush grade (MBG) and TIMI myocardial perfusion grade (TMP). The aim of our study was to compare these two parameters, how they correlate with short-term indicators of myocardial damage.
  
  
  METHODS
  The two visual grades were assessed along with enzymatic infarct size as creatine kinase release (CK), echocardiographic left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and ST-segment resolution (STR) in 62 patients with acute myocardial infarction and successful revascularization.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Better correlation was found with TMP in case of all clinical parameters (CK: R= - 0.687, P<0.001; LVEF: R=0.586, P<0.001; STR: R=0.574, P<0.001). MBG also showed significant correlations with clinical measurements, except for enzymatic infarct size (CK: R=- 0.062, P=0.626; LVEF: R=0.389, P=0.002; STR: R=0.348, P=0.006).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that the clearance of the dye (described by TMP) is more characteristic to myocardial recovery after AMI, than maximal contrast density (described by MBG) in the clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Medical Faculty, Albert Szent-Györgyi Clinical Center, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary.
authors.forename: Tamás
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ungi
authors.forename: Viktor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sasi
authors.forename: Imre
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ungi
authors.forename: Tamás
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Forster
authors.forename: András
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Palkó
authors.forename: Attila
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nemes
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000792:Angiography; D003402:Creatine Kinase / Q000378:metabolism; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D010477:Perfusion; D013318:Stroke Volume
chemical_list: D003402:Creatine Kinase