Myocardial reperfusion can be predicted by myoglobin/creatine kinase ratio of a single blood sample obtained at the time of admission

To evaluate noninvasive markers for determining the reperfusion status without coronary angiography (CAG) or serial blood sampling in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), two markers were examined: (1) serum myoglobin (Mb) level and (2) serum myoglobin/creatine kinase ratio (Mb/CK). Before emergency CAG a blood sample was drawn from 72 AMI patients within 6 hours after the onset of AMI. CAG revealed thrombolysis in myocardial infarction grades (TIMI) 0 to 1 in 56 and TIMI 2 to 3 in 16 patients (spontaneous reperfusion). No patients had received thrombolytic therapy before admission. TIMI 0 to 1 patients were characterized with lower Mb levels than TIMI 2 to 3 patients at admission (346 ± 476 vs 1558 ± 2005, mean ± SD, p < 0.001). Furthermore, the mean Mb₀/CK₀ ratio in TIMI 2 to 3 patients, who had already achieved the reperfusion at admission, was significantly higher than that in patients with TIMI 0 to 1 patients (6.5 ± 3.9 vs 2.1 ± 1.8, mean ± SD, p < 0.0001). When Mb₀/CK₀ >5.0 was assumed to indicate the sufficient reperfusion at admission, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy evaluating the reperfusion status were 75%, 96%, and 92%, respectively. It can be concluded that the reperfusion status can be predicted satisfactorily by a single blood sample obtained at the time of admission without CAG.