Summary
Background: Type 1 plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1) is considered to be risk factor for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). A rebound of circulating PAI-1 has been reported after rt-PA administration. We investigated the relationships between PAI-1 levels before and after thrombolytic therapy with streptokinase (SK) as compared to rt-PA and the patency of infarct-related arteries.
Methods and Results: Fifty five consecutive patients with acute MI were randomized to strep-tokinase or rt-PA. The plasma PAI-1 levels were studied before and serially within 24 h after thrombolytic administration. Vessel patency was assessed by an angiogram at 5 ± 1days. The PAI-1 levels increased significantly with both rt-PA and SK as shown by the levels obtained from a control group of 10 patients treated with coronary angioplasty alone. However, the area under the PAI-1 curve was significantly higher with SK than with rt-PA (p <0.01) and the plasma PAI-1 levels peaked later with SK than with rt-PA (18 h versus 3 h respectively). Conversely to PAI-1 levels on admission, the PAI-1 levels after thrombolysis were related to vessel patency. Plasma PAI-1 levels 6 and 18 h after SK therapy and the area under the PAI-1 curve were significantly higher in patients with occluded arteries (p <0.002, p <0.04 and p <0.05 respectively).The same tendency was observed in the t-PA group without reaching significance.
Conclusions: This study showed that the PAI-1 level increase is more pronounced after SK treatment than after t-PA treatment. There is a relationship between increased PAI-1 levels after thrombolytic therapy and poor patency. Therapeutic approaches aimed at quenching PAI-1 activity after thrombolysis might be of interest to improve the efficacy of thrombolytic therapy for acute myocardial infarction.
Stimulation of plasminogen activator inhibitor in vivo by infusion of angiotensin II. Evidence of a potential interaction between the renin-angiotensin system and fibrinolytic function.
