Abstract:

Objective   To investigate the effects of different amount of alcohol intake on coronary collateral circulation and serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)in patients with myocardial infarction. Methods   103 cases with at least one major coronary vessel occlusion confirmed by the coronary angiography were collected, and their coronary collateral circulations were classified with the Rentrop scoring system. Patients’daily alcohol intake and other risk factors of coronary artery disease were collected with the questionnaire survey method. Patients were divided into three groups according to the amount of alcohol intake: the non-drinking group， the light-drinking group(≤40g per day) and the heavy-drinking group(＞60g per day). Serum levels of VEGF were detected with ELISA. Results   Coronary collateral circulations in the light-drinking group were better than those of the non-drinking group(P＜0.05) and the heavy-drinking group(P＜0.01)； the serum level of VEGF in the lightdrinking group was significantly higher than that of the non-drinking group(148.32±60.80 vs 113.53±61.82)pg/mL(P＜0.05)， while there was no significant difference in serum levels of VEGF between the light-drinking group and the heavy-drinking group(P＞0.05). Conclusion   Light alcohol intake may benefit the collateral circulation formation in patients with myocardial infarction, which may be associated with the overexpression of VEGF.

Key words: Myocardial infarction； Alcohol； Intake； Coronary collateral circulation； Vascular endothelial growth factor