 
         
         Summary
         
         Preinfarction angina and early reperfusion of the infarct-related artery are major
            determinants of reduced infarct-size in patients with acute myocardial infarction.
            The beneficial effects of preinfarction angina on infarct size have been attributed
            to the development of collateral vessels and/or to post-ischemic myocardial protection.
            However, recently, a relation has been found between prodromal angina, faster coronary
            recanalization, and smaller infarcts in patients treated with rt-PA: those with preinfarction
            angina showed earlier reperfusion (p = 0.006) and a 50% reduction of CKMB-estimated
            infarct-size (p = 0.009) compared to patients without preinfarction angina. This intriguing
            observation is consistent with a subsequent observation of higher coronary recanalization
            rates following thrombolysis in patients with prodromal preinfarction angina compared
            to patients without antecedent angina. Recent findings in dogs show an enhanced spontaneous
            lysis of plateletrich coronary thrombi with ischemic preconditioning, which is prevented
            by adenosine blockade, suggesting an antithrom-botic effect of ischemic metabolites.
            Understanding the mechanisms responsible for earlier and enhanced coronary recanalization
            in patients with preinfarction angina may open the way to new reperfusion strategies.
         
         A vast number of studies, globally involving ≈17,000 patients with acute myocardial
            infarction, have unequivocally shown that an infarction preceded by angina evolves
            into a smaller area of necrosis compared to an infarct not preceded by angina (Table
            1) (1). So far, preinfarction angina has been thought to have cardioprotective effects
            mainly through two mechanisms: collateral perfusion of the infarctzone (2-4), and
            ischemic preconditioning of the myocardium (5-7). Here we discuss a further mechanism
            of protection represented by improved reperfusion of the infarct-related artery.
         
         Key words
Prodromal angina - myocardial infarction - reperfusion - thrombolysis