Galectin-3 and its relationship with the state of coronary arteries in patients with acute myocardial infarction and concomitant obesity

The aim of the study-to evaluate the condition of the coronary arteries according to quartile of galectin-3 serum level in patients with acute myocardial infarction and obesity. Materials and methods. A total of 31 patients with acute myocardial infarction and I and II degree of obesity were examined. A coronaroventriculography was performed with stenting of the infarct-dependent coronary artery within 12 hours from the pain syndrome onset. Galectin-3 was determined using a Human Galectin-3 ELISA kit (China). The degree of coronary atherosclerosis severity was assessed by coronaroventriculography (CVG) using the Gensini score. Results. The most common atherosclerotic lesion was found in the right interventricular artery - 89 % of cases followed by the right coronary artery (59.3 %), about half of patients (48.1 %) had a lesion of the circumflex artery. The greatest vulnerability of the right interventricular artery was accompanied by the highest mean stenosis values -77.3 % followed by the right coronary artery, the mean stenosis value of which was 68.2 %. The development of acute myocardial infarction predominantly (57.1 %) was due to occlusion of the right interventricular artery. The increase in the level of galectin-3 to 23.48-41.42 ng/ml, which corresponds to 3-4 quartiles of galectin-3 level, was associated with an increase in the number of affected vessels and segments with high Gensini scores. Conclusions. The right interventricular and right coronary arteries are the most vulnerable according to the angiographic findings, both in terms of frequency and degree of lesion, and frequency of hemodynamically significant stenoses in patients with acute myocardial infarction and obesity. An increase in galectin-3 level up to 3 and 4 quartiles is accompanied by a parallel increase in parameters characterizing the progression of atherosclerotic lesion of the coronary arteries. Galectin-3 can be considered as a marker of atherosclerotic process in patients with acute myocardial infarction and obesity due to the association between galectin-3 level and the degree of coronary artery lesion severity.