Journal of
eISSN: 2373-4396
Submit manuscript...
Editorial Volume 14 Issue 6
Cigarette smoking and acute myocardial infarction (AMI): where is the closest relationship?
Aurelio Leone
Verify Captcha
Regret for the inconvenience: we are taking measures to prevent fraudulent form submissions by extractors and page crawlers. Please type the correct Captcha word to see email ID.
Verify Captcha
Regret for the inconvenience: we are taking measures to prevent fraudulent form submissions by extractors and page crawlers. Please type the correct Captcha word to see email ID.
Fellow of the Royal Society for Promotion of Health (FRSPH), UK
Correspondence: Aurelio Leone, Fellow of the Royal Society for Promotion of Health (FRSPH), Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA), UK, Tel +393472272215
Received: December 15, 2021 | Published: December 27, 2021
Citation: Leone A. Cigarette smoking and acute myocardial infarction (AMI): whre is the closest relationship? J Cardiol Curr Res. 2021;14(6):173. DOI: 10.15406/jccr.2021.14.00537
Keywords
smoking, myocardial infarction
Editorial
On 1995, I wrote as a final remark of the relationship between cigarette smoking and heart on the Journal of Royal Society of Health1 that “…the following statement may be formulated: Active smoking injures the cardiovascular system chronically causing structural lesions, which become, in the long run, irreversible alterations mainly related to coronary atherosclerosis. In contrast, passive smoking causes transiently impaired cardiac performance, which may be considerably more harmful for those people with established ischaemic heart disease. Therefore, when assessing the harmful effects of smoking, attention should be focused on those with ischaemic heart disease”
These conclusions were a milestone on the effects of smoking on cardiovascular system, as a large number of studies undoubtedly demonstrated.2–5
Evidence indicates that AMI is the most harmful event of the ischemic heart disease. Myocardial infarction denotes the necrosis of a part of cardiac muscle because of inadequate blood supply. Therefore, necrosis is the pathological substrate of AMI, which cannot be defined as it without this alteration.6 Three types of necrosis can be observed in the context of an infarct area7 determined by different pathogenic mechanisms: coagulation necrosis, colliquative myocytolysis, and coagulation myocytolysis. However, coagulation necrosis is the most common pattern of myocardial infarction. There is evidence that this type of necrosis is strongly associated with coronary pathology being the last also defined as a vascular necrosis. Reduced perfusion of specific areas of myocardium often due to complete coronary artery occlusion is recognized as the basic mechanism.
Coronary pathology is primarily characterized by narrowing of different type and degree of arterial lumen.8,9 Several lesions may be superimposed on this substrate up to determine partial or total occlusion of the arterial vessel. Commonly, the coronary arteries are diffusely involved by atherosclerotic plaques. The degree of luminal narrowing may vary in the different individuals with AMI, but usually atherosclerotic plaques are present in almost every millimeter of the extramural coronary circulation.
It is worth noting that coronary alterations due to cigarette smoking are practically similar to those observed in the patients who suffer or suffered from AMI.10
Conclusion
There is evidence that coronary artery lesions are the strongest parameter, which associates AMI with smoking habit. The morphological alterations due to smoking able to trigger irreversible lesions primarily belong to carbon monoxide.11,12 On the contrary, nicotine acts transiently but progressively to cause cardiac harm and is able to mask initially the adverse effects due to carbon monoxide.
Acknowledgments
None.
Conflicts of interest
The rest of the authors declare do not have conflicts of interest.
Funding
No financial support.
References
- Leone A. Cigarette smoking and health of the heart. J R Soc Health. 1995;115(6):354–355.
- Leone A. Relationship between cigarette smoking and other coronary risk factors in atherosclerosis: Risk of cardiovascular disease and preventive measures. Curr Pharm Des. 2003;(29):2417–2423.
- Ockene IS, Houston Miller N. Cigarette smoking, cardiovascular disease, and stroke: a statement for healthcare professionals from the American Heart Association. American Heart Association Task Force on Risk Reduction. Circulation. 1997;96(9):3243–3247.
- Glantz SA, Parmley WW. Passive smoking and heart disease. JAMA. 1995;273(13):1047–1053.
- Leone A. Markers of atherosclerotic disease: What do they mean? Current opinion and future trends. Curr Pharm Des. 2016;22(1):7–17.
- Mallory GK, White PD, Salcedo–Salgar J. The speed o healing of myocardial infarction. A study of the pathologic anatomy in seventy–two cases. Am Heart J. 1939;18:647–671.
- Baroldi G, Radice F, Schimd G, et al. Morphology of acute myocardial infarction in relation to coronary thrombosis. Am Heart J. 1974;87 (1):65–75.
- Cantin M, Leone A. Morphology of myocardial infarction. Methods Achiev Exp Pathol. 1981;10:244–284.
- Leone A. Relation between coronary lesions and cigarette smoking of subjects deceased from acute myocardial infarction. A histopathological study. J Cardiobiol. 2014; 2(2):5.
- Roberts WC. Coronary arteries in fatal acute myocardial infarction. Circulation. 1972;45:215–230.
- Leone A. Cigarette smoking and cardiovascular damage: analytic review of the subject. Singapore Med J. 1994;35:492–494.
- Leone A. Myocardial Infarction. Pathological Relevance and Relationship with Coronary Risk Factors. Curr Pharm Des. 2017;23(22):3205–3216.
©2021 Leone. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially.