Angina

Cardiology

Vasospastic angina

Myocardial infarction

Internal medicine

Medicine

European Heart Journal

Rho-kinase activity in circulating leucocytes is a useful biomarker for diagnosis and disease activity assessment of vasospastic angina (VSA). The present study aimed to examine the long-term prognostic impact of Rho-kinase activity in circulating leucocytes in VSA patients. We prospectively enrolled 174 consecutive patients with VSA and 50 non-VSA patients, in whom we measured Rho-kinase activity in circulating leucocytes, and they were followed for a median of 16 months. The primary endpoint was cardiac events including cardiac death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, and hospitalization for unstable angina. During the follow-up period, cardiac events occurred in 10 VSA patients (5.7%) but in none of the non-VSA patients. When we divided VSA patients into two groups by a median value of their Rho-kinase activity, the Kaplan–Meier survival analysis showed a significantly worse prognosis in VSA patients with high Rho-kinase activity compared with those with low activity or non-VSA patients (log-rank; P < 0.05,...

Prognostic impacts of Rho-kinase activity in circulating leucocytes in patients with vasospastic angina