Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the impact of early coronary angiography on clinical outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). METHODS: This retrospective study included 221 AMI patients admitted to Zhangye People's Hospital Affiliated to Hexi University from December 2020 to December 2024. The patients were divided into two groups based on whether they received early coronary angiography or not: the non-early coronary angiography group (n=95) and the early coronary angiography group (n=126). Early coronary angiography was defined as within 120 minutes of admission. Baseline characteristics, in-hospital outcomes, echocardiogram indicators, and 6-month follow-up data were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Compared with the non-early coronary angiography group, the early coronary angiography group demonstrated significantly lower incidences of target lesion revascularization (11.90% vs. 24.21%), left ventricle thrombosis (8.73% vs. 18.95%), major bleeding (11.11% vs. 22.11%), and cardiogenic shock (8.73% vs. 18.95%) during hospitalization (all P<0.05). The average hospital stay in the early angiography group was shorter (7.95 ± 1.92 days vs. 8.76 ± 2.27 days, P=0.005), and the readmission rate was also lower (18.25% vs. 35.79%, P=0.003) compared with the non-early coronary angiography group. During the 6-month follow-up, the early angiography group continued to exhibit significantly lower rates of percutaneous coronary intervention (0.00% vs. 6.32%), coronary artery bypass grafting (3.17% vs. 11.58%), and angina incidence (3.97% vs. 12.63%) (all P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Early coronary angiography may help improve the in-hospital outcomes and 6-month follow-up outcomes in patients with AMI.