Acute Coronary Syndrome; Roadside to Resus
The Resus Room
The Role of Erosion in Coronary Artery Plaque Formation
In unstable angina and non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction the obstruction to flow is typically incomplete whereas in ST elevation myocardials it's often a complete obstruction. The distinction between erosion and disruption of these coronary artery plaques is not really of any major clinical importance certainly when we consider identification and management of ACS. But what is important to realize though is that as I mentioned at the beginning of this section these thrombi result in varying degrees of obstruction to blood flow through the affected coronary artery. When cardiac myocytes are damaged because of this ischemia and necrosis we get cardiac troponin a calcium regulatory protein being released into the circulation which can be detected with
