Evaluation of ventricular tachyarrhythmias in patients with myocardial infarction after streptokinase therapy

The occurrence of arrhythmias after myocardial infarction is associated with an increased risk of mortality. The purpose of this study was to investigate tachyarrhythmias after streptokinase therapy in myocardial infarction patients.

This study was a case-control study. Among 262 patients with myocardial infarction who received streptokinase, 168 patients with ventricular tachyarrhythmia, ventricular fibrillation, or both (case group), and 94 patients without arrhythmia (control group) were selected. Their clinical information were collected by questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS 20 software through chi-square test and Wilcoxon rank-sum.

There was no relationship between demographic variables or electrocardiogram changes and the type of arrhythmia in 168 participants in the group 1 (p > 0.05). However, there was a significant relationship between age (p = 0.04), sex (p = 0.049), diabetes (p = 0.039), hypertension (p = 0.037), history of beta-blocker use (p = 0.028), history of aspirin use (p = 0.023), number of the leads involved (p = 0.023) and occurrence of arrhythmia among the participants in the group 2.

According to the findings of this study, patients with myocardial infarction who need to receive thrombolysis and who have any of the following conditions should be monitored by the health care staff to prevent development of ventricular tachyarrhythmias: old age, male gender, history of diabetes mellitus, hypertension or more lead involvement in their electrocardiogram.