Location, size, thickness of the myocardial scar determined by CMR-LGE
Myocardial scars were diagnosed in 41 of 42 STEMI patients (96.7%) by using CMR-LGE. A patient-by-patient visual analysis of scar tissue location in the STEMI group, with bull’s eye segmental comparison of CMR-LGE findings is shown in Supplemental Figure 1. In all patients, the anatomic locations of scars defined by CMR-LGE corresponded to the distributions of the culprit vessels treated with primary angioplasty. For example, in a patient with angiographically proven left anterior descending coronary artery occlusion, CMR-LGE indicated scarification of the basal and middle segments of the left anterior ventricular wall. In another patient with right coronary artery occlusion, CMR-LGE disclosed a scar that involved the entire inferior wall of the left ventricle and the middle and apical segments of the posterior interventricular septum (Figure 1). However, scar size and thickness were unrelated to the degree of coronary artery occlusion. Stenoses in all culprit arteries exceeded 90%; nonetheless, there were significant inter-patient differences in scar size and thickness (P<0.001).
Determination of STR cut-off value
A transmural scar was defined as a myocardial lesion extending >75% of the wall thickness. All myocardial scars were classified as either non-transmural (0-75%) or transmural (76-100%) according to CMR-LGE results. The relationship of the ST-segment resolution percentage to transmural scarification was identified by the ROC curve. The ROC curve analysis demonstrated a sensitivity of 96% and a specificity of 88% to predict transmural myocardial scarification following STEMI at an STR cut-off value of 40.15%. The area under the curve was 0.92 (Figure 2).
Patient characteristics of STR groups
Patients were divided into two groups: STR<40.15% (n=16) and STR≥40.15% (n=26). Compared with patients with STR≥40.15%, patients with STR<40.15% had significantly longer pain-to-balloon time; higher aspartate aminotransferase (AST), peak troponin-I, and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels; lower left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF); and a higher prevalence of diuretic therapy. Other characteristics such as age; gender; body mass index; histories of smoking, hypertension, and diabetes; hyperlipidemia; culprit artery; leukocyte, erythrocyte, and platelet counts; hemoglobin, hemoglobin A1(c), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and creatinine levels; left ventricular diastolic diameter; the use of therapeutic drugs other than diuretics; and coronary care unit residence time were similar between the two groups (Table 1).
Diagnostic value of STR<40.15% for transmural myocardial scar
In the logistic regression analysis, male gender (odds ratio [OR]=0.500, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.234–1.068), history of diabetes (OR=0.333, 95% CI 0.108–1.034), LVEF (OR=0.520, 95% CI 0.341–0.792), and STR <40.15% (OR=15.0, 95% CI 1.981–113.556) were significant risk factors for transmural scars (Table 2).
Multivariate logistic proportional hazards regression analyses were used to evaluate the independent predictive value of STR<40.15%. After adjusting for age, gender, and pain-to-balloon time (Mode 1), the OR of STR<40.15% for transmural scar was 211.40 (95% CI 9.64-4636.69, P=0.001). After adjusting for histories of smoking, hypertension, and DM (Mode 2), the OR was 280.14 (95% CI 12.42–6320.36, P<0.001). After adjusting for BNP, peak troponin-I, and diuretic use (Mode 3), the OR was 6394.05 (95% CI 8.51–4807147.53, P=0.010). After adjusting for LVEF and AST (Mode 4), the OR was 187.94 (95% CI 11.33-3116.99, P<0.001). After adjusting for LVEF, smoking history, and peak troponin-I (Mode 5), the OR was 112.95 (95% CI 6.20–2059.35, P=0.001). In aggregate, smoking history, peak troponin-I, and LVEF showed significance for predicting transmural scar (Table 3).
Relationship between STR percentage and myocardial scar thickness and size
Linear regression analyses demonstrated negative correlations between STR percentage and both scar thickness (β= -0.838, 95% CI -1.182~-0.774, P<0.001) (Figure 3A) and size (β= -0.714, 95% CI -3.126~-1.635, P<0.001) (Figure 3B). In addition, compared with patients with STR>40.15%, patients with STR<40.15% had significantly thicker and larger scars (Figure 4A and Figure 4B).