Ivan Cokic1, Avinash Kali1, Hsin-Jung Yang1, Richard Tang1, Frank S Prato2, David Underhill1, and Rohan Dharmakumar1
1Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, United States, 2Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON, Canada
Hemorrhagic myocardial infarctions (MI)
are associated with persistence of iron depositions in the chronic MI phase. These
iron deposits have been shown to lead to perpetual recruitment of new
monocytes/macrophages into the infarcted territory. Hemorrhagic MI is
accompanied by a persistent microvascular obstruction (PMO) but the converse is
not true. In this histologically validated cardiac MRI study we demonstrate
that even in the absence of hemorrhage, PMO per
se can lead to chronic iron-driven inflammatory response. Our findings are
expected and lend improved insight into the mechanisms driving heart failure in
infarction with PMO.