Impact of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction admitted for primary percutaneous coronary intervention: Impact of ventricular fibrillation in STEMI patients

Objective: Pre-hospital life-threatening ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation (VT/VF) is relatively common in the acute phase of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). We evaluated the prognostic impact of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) due to VT/VF in non-selected patients with STEMI admitted for primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods: Prospective hospital registry was used to collect data of consecutive STEMI patients admitted to our hospital between 2005 and 2010. Patients with OHCA were identified from this registry, and their medical records were reviewed. Results: During the study period, 4653 patients were admitted with STEMI. Data regarding OHCA due to VT/VF was available in 4643 patients (99.8%). A total of 326 patients (7.0%) had OHCA due to VT/VF. Patients with OHCA were younger (60.3 +/- 11.8 vs. 64.1 +/- 12.9 year, p < 0.001), less often had diabetes (5.2% vs. 12.4%, p < 0.001) but more often presented with signs of heart failure (Killip class > 1:17.5% vs. 7.7%, p < 0.001) and cardiogenic shock (29.6% vs. 2.5%, p < 0.001). Coronary angiography was performed in 97.5% of the patients. Coronary angiography and primary PCI were performed equally in both groups. In patients with OHCA, the left main artery (2.3% vs. 1.0%, p = 0.04) and LAD (49.2% vs. 41.2%, p = 0.01) were more often the culprit artery. In-hospital mortality was significantly higher among patients with OHCA (13.80% vs. 3.4%, p < 0.001). However, in patients who were discharged alive from the hospital, the one-year mortality and the combined incidence of death and appropriate ICD therapy were similar in patients with and without OHCA. Conclusion: In a large non-selected STEMI patient population admitted for primary PCI, OHCA due to VT/VF was associated with higher in-hospital mortality but did not affect the long-term prognosis.