Casuística de los infartos de cara inferior extendidos a ventrículo derecho en el hospital San Marcos de Chinchiná durante los años 2001-2004

Background . Right ventricular infarction is a major complication for inferior myocardial infarction which is caused by proximal occlusion of the right coronary artery. However, right ventricular infarction occurs infrequently. The explanations for the pathological findings and for the relative infrequency of right ventricular infarction are uncertain. Objective . To analyze all cases of right ventricular infarction occurred in Hospital San Marcos during 2001-2004 and its risk factors as predictive of complications. Methods all patients admitted with precordial pain were studied in the San Marcos Hospital in Chinchina in a 4 year period (2001-2004). Of them, 53 had had any kind of infarction and eleven had symptoms of inferior myocardial infarction. Of these, 3 patients were finally diagnosed with right ventricular infarction. It was retrospectively assessed the association between this coronary event and many risk factors known such as smoking habit, hypertension, increasing age, male sex, high blood cholesterol and high blood pressure. Results . Of the 53 patients who were initially admitted to Hospital San Marcos with a first acute myocardial infarction, 11 were confirmedto have inferior myocardial infarction. Forty-two patients were then excluded because there was not criteria to include them in this group. Only 3 patients out of 11 had a right ventricular infarction. The diagnosis was mainly on a clinical basis as right precordial electrocardiograms were not obtained at this hospital. Of the 11 patients in the main group 27% were women and 73% men. There were significant differences in age, sex, coronary risk factors (such as tobacco habit), and the extent of the infarction to the right ventricle in patients with high blood pressure and those without it.