A Prospective Observational Study to Find the Correlation between the C-reactive Protein-to-Albumin Ratio and Thrombus Burden among Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome in a Tertiary Healthcare Center

Abstract Background: Acute coronary syndrome is the leading cardiovascular cause of mortality and necessitates prompt diagnosis and treatment. Hence, determination of intracoronary thrombus burden and related angiographic milieu is important to manage the complications during the procedure and to prevent adverse outcomes. Objective: To evaluate the correlation between the C-reactive protein-to-albumin ratio (CAR) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio with thrombus burden in patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Methodology: This study was conducted as a hospital-based prospective observational study in the department of cardiology of our tertiary care hospital for a period of 1 year, between 2024 and 2025, on patients who were presented with STEMI and underwent primary PCI. Results: A total of 101 patients were included in our study over 1 year time period. Median CAR value is 1.074617 ± 0.645692, and patients are divided into two categories according to high and low thrombus grade. Pearson correlation coefficient between thrombus grade and CAR is 0.4853, along with P < 0.0001, which show significant correlation between both entities. Conclusion: The CAR was found to be a potentially useful prognostic tool for predicting a poor prognosis in STEMI patients. However, this finding needs to be validated in the future prospective studies.