Characteristics and Prognosis of Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome Complicated by Ventricular Tachyarrhythmia in the Last Decade

Background: Ventricular tachyarrhythmia (VTA) is an infrequent yet serious complication of acute myocardial infarction (MI). There is limited data regarding the incidence and prognostic implications of VTA in the last decade.

Methods: 11,079 acute coronary syndrome patients from the Acute Coronary Syndrome Israeli Survey (ACSIS) were prospectively characterized and followed-up for 5 years.

Patients were classified into 3 groups: no VTA, early VTA (≤48h) and late (>48h) VTA. Data was analyzed according to decades of presentation (current decade vs. previous decade)

Results: VTA occurred in 3.2 % (362) of patients. The rate of early vs. late VTA were 2.4% (269) and 0.8% (93) respectively. Patients with late VTA were older and had higher incidence of diabetes mellitus and chronic renal failure. ST-elevation MI was complicated more often by early VTA than late VTA. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that mortality rates at 5 years of follow-up were lowest in the no VTA (22%), intermediate in the early VTA group (28%) and very high (65%) in the late VTA group, respectively (log-rank p

Fig. Survival Analysis in last decade (2000-2006) vs current decade (2008-2016)