Objective: Visfatin is a cytokine that is expressed in many tissues, including the heart, as a myokine, and is proposed to play a role in plaque destabilization in acute myocardial injury. We investigated whether visfatin is associated with occlusion of the infarct-related artery (IRA) in patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).Methods: The plasma visfatin levels of fifty-nine consecutive patients with acute STEMI were measured by a competitive enzyme immunoassay.Results: The plasma visfatin levels at admission were found to be elevated in patients with acute STEMI compared to healthy patients with normal coronary arteries. Patients in the occluded IRA group had higher visfatin levels compared with patients in the patent IRA group. Increasing concentrations of visfatin were independently and
significantly associated with a high risk of IRA occlusion. The plasma visfatin levels correlated with the peak CK-MB and peak troponin I levels. The receiver operator characteristics curve of visfatin showed that a visfatin level of > 22.3 ng/mL was associated with IRA occlusion.
Conclusion: In addition to the association between visfatin and IRA occlusion, the visfatin levels were positively associated with cardiac enzymes; thus, visfatin level may be closely related to myocardial damage.