Predictors and prognosis of left ventricular thrombus in post-myocardial infarction patients with left ventricular dysfunction after percutaneous coronary intervention

Background: We aimed to investigate the predictors and prognosis of left ventricular thrombus (LVT) in patients admitted for post-myocardial infarction (MI) and left ventricular dysfunction after contemporary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods: We prospectively enrolled 267 consecutive post-MI patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) <0.45 based on the Shanghai East Hospital PCI database since 2012. Altogether 25 (9.36%) patients were selected as the LVT group. Baseline, angiographic, procedural characteristics and 1-year clinical outcomes were compared by Chi-square test, t-test or Kaplan-Meier survival analysis as appropriate. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted for the accuracy of the multivariate analysis model. A multiple logistic regression was applied to predict LVT formation. Results: The independent risk factors of LVT were left ventricular aneurysm [odds ratio (OR): 1.29, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.09-1.52, P<0.01], incomplete revascularization (OR: 0.05, 95% CI: 0.01-0.35, P<0.01), SYNTAX score (OR: 1.28, 95% CI: 1.14-1.43, P<0.01) and D-dimer (OR: 1.90, 95% CI: 1.19-3.04, P<0.01). The SYNTAX score and 1)-dimer effectively indicated the development of LVT with optimal cutoff values of 29.50 and 1.53 mg/L, respectively. Patients with LVT had significantly worse outcomes at 1-year clinical follow-up, especially higher incidence of ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke. Conclusions: This study indicated that the presence of left ventricular aneurysm, incomplete revascularization, higher SYNTAX score and D-dimer level were the independent predictors of LVT formation in post-MI and LV dysfunction patients, which related to worse clinical outcomes. Future studies for early intervention and complete revascularization in high-risk subgroup patients are expected.