In The Pardoner's Tale Chaucer makes it clear that our English ancestors were well aware of the price of self indulgence. Their intuitive insights into the consequences of overnutrition had to wait nearly 600 years before prospective studies confirmed in Western man its close relation to arterial disease, angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, diabetes mellitus and sudden death (Dawber, Moore ...

We investigated the prognostic significance of new-onset angina in patients in whom coronary anatomic characteristics were known. New onset angina was defined as angina of less than 3 months duration. Consecutive patients (n = 1727) with significant coronary artery disease (diagnosed at cardiac catheterization) and who had not had a prior myocardial infarction or congestive heart failure were s...

Myocardial infarction results from a platelet-rich occlusive coronary thrombus. Platelet membrane glycoprotein IIb/IIIa plays an important role in platelet adhesion and aggregation. Two polymorphisms of the gene encoding the IIIa subunit. PLA1 and PLA2, have been identified. We investigated the frequency of these polymorphisms in 114 consecutive patients with a history of angina-like chest pain...

Acute coronary syndromes are a major public health problem and the leading cause of death in the western world. Acute coronary syndromes consist of unstable angina pectoris, non-ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction, and ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction. These diseases represent a continuum of increasing severity and are pathophysiologically linked to intracoronary thrombus forma...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES The occurrence of preinfarction angina (PA) reduces the extent of myocardial necrosis, increases the volume of viable myocardium, and improves left ventricular function. However, there is no agreement about the effect of PA on mortality. The objective of this study was to determine whether PA is associated with in-hospital mortality. METHOD A meta-analysis (fixed e...

The occurrence of angina in the week preceding myocardial infarction is associated with a reduction in cardiovascular complications in the acute phase. However, little is known about it relationship with prognosis after hospitalization (e.g., cardiovascular death and the development of heart failure or ischemic cardiomyopathy). The study included 290 consecutive patients admitted for a first my...

One hundred patients admitted to a coronary care unit with acute myocardial infarction were interviewed from a structured questionnaire to evaluate the incidence and significance of prodromal symptoms. Prodromata occurred in 65% of the subjects; this is the highest incidence ever recorded. Chest pain was the most common symptom. Characteristically it was recurrent and progressive. Patients with...

OBJECTIVE To investigate single neutrophil flow resistance in coronary artery disease, including myocardial infarction before initiation of reperfusion therapy. DESIGN Neutrophil flow resistance was measured in 93 subjects in five groups: (group 1) 28 patients within 12 hours after the onset of myocardial infarction, before reperfusion therapy; (group 2) 18 with unstable angina; (group 3) 13 ...