Smoking does not affect Culprit Lesion Plaque burden and Vulnerability in ACS: Study

Chandigarh: Smoking does not affect the culprit lesion plaque burden and plaque vulnerability in Acute Coronary Syndrome by intravascular ultrasound and virtual histology, a new study reported.

The study was led by Cardiologists at the Department of Cardiology, Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh and the same is published in Indian Heart Journal.

The study was done with the aim of analyzing and comparing the coronary plaque features in the culprit lesion of the smokers and non- smokers using Virtual Histology-Intravascular Ultrasound (VH-IVUS). All IVUS analysis was performed in accordance with standard recommendations.

Of 220 patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome(ACS) from November 2017 to October 2020, 102 were current smokers (current smoking or stopped smoking within one month before enrollment) and 118 were non-smokers (never smokers) The study was conducted at a tertiary care center in North India.

The salient findings of the study include:

• Smoking is associated with better adaptive vascular remodeling.

• Triple vessel disease was common in non-smoker group.

• The present study did not find any independent association between plaque burden and composition with risk factors like diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia.

• Therosclerotic plaque progression and plaque vulnerability may be influenced by complex mutual interaction of multiple factors like body mass index, dysli-pidemia, metabolic syndrome, apart from hypertension and diabetes.

Reference:

Vikas Kadiyala, Sreenivas Reddy, Jeet Ramkashyap, et.al. titled Effect of smoking on culprit lesion plaque burden and composition in acute coronary syndrome: An intravascular ultrasound-virtual histology study. November–December 2021, Indian Heart Journal.