Predictors of Left Ventricular Remodeling Post Acute Myocardial Infarction. Protocol for a Clinical Study

Heart failure is a clinical syndrome that appears as a consequence of a structural disease, and the most common cause of left ventricular systolic dysfunction results from myocardial ischemia. Cardiac remodeling and neuroendocrine activation are the major compensatory mechanisms in heart failure. The main objective of the study is to identify the association between serum biomarkers illustrating the extent of myocardial necrosis (highly sensitive troponin as-says), left ventricular dysfunction (NT-proBNP), and systemic inflammatory response (illustrated via serum levels of hsCRP and interleukins) during the acute phase of a myocardial infarction, and the left ventricular remodeling process at 6 months following the acute event, quantified via speckle tracking echocardiography. The study will include 400 patients diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction without signs and symptoms of heart failure at the time of enrollment that will undergo a complex clinical examination and speckle tracking echocardiography. Serum samples from the peripheral blood will be collected in order to determine the inflammatory serum biomarkers. After 6 months, patients will be divided into 2 groups according to the development of ventricular remodeling, quantified by speckle tracking echocardiography: group 1 will consist of patients with a remodeling index lower than 15%, and group 2 will consist of patients with a remodeling index higher than 15%. All clinical and imaging data obtained at the baseline will be compared between these two groups in order to determine the features associated with a higher risk of deleterious ventricular remodeling and heart failure.