Plaque erosion in the culprit lesion is prone to develop a smaller myocardial infarction size compared with plaque rupture.

Background: Acute myocardial infarction (MI) stems from a disruption of the plaque in the coronary artery. Based on postmortem examinations, such plaque disruption has been classified as either a rupture or an erosion. Unfortunately, it has been difficult to clinically identify plaque ruptures and plaque erosions during the development of acute MI.

Recent decline in hospital mortality among patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Background: Many patients with acute myocardial infarction will still die after admission. Recent trends in hospital mortality were analyzed to identify aspects that need improvement.

Methods And Results: A total of 1,247 patients admitted to Kinki University School of Medicine within 24 h of the onset of infarction were analyzed between 1975 and 2001.

Efficacy of coronary angioplasty following conventional coronary thrombolysis in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

The efficacy of combined thrombolysis and angioplasty for the purpose of coronary reperfusion after acute myocardial infarction has been controversial. The present study was conducted, therefore, to evaluate the effects of angioplasty following administration of conventional thrombolytic agents on the long-term prognosis of acute myocardial infarction patients. A total of 409 patients admitted to the hospital within 12 hours of the onset of infarction between January 1990 and May 2001 were studied retrospectively.

Lack of evidence for apoptosis as a cause of delayed onset paraplegia after spinal cord ischemia in rabbits.

Unlabelled: The mechanisms for delayed onset paraplegia after transient spinal cord ischemia are not fully understood. We investigated whether apoptotic motor neuron death is involved in its development. Spinal cord ischemia was induced for 15 min by occlusion of the abdominal aorta in rabbits.