MINI-SYMPOSIUM

Facilitated percutaneous coronary intervention

B R Brodie

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr Bruce R Brodie
Moses Cone Heart and Vascular Center, 313, Moses Cone Hospital, North Elm Street, Greensboro, NC 27408, USA; bbrodie@triad.rr.com

Abbreviations: ASSENT- 4, assessment of the safety and efficacy of a new thrombolytic; BRAVE, Bavarian reperfusion alternatives evaluation; CAPTIM, comparison of angioplasty and pre-hospital thrombolysis in acute myocardial infarction; FINESSE, facilitated intervention with enhanced reperfusion speed to stop events; GRACIA, grupo de analisis de la cardiopatia isquimica aguda; MI, myocardial infarction; ON-TIME, ongoing tirofiban in myocardial infarction evaluation; PACT, plasminogen-activator angioplasty compatibility trial; PCI, percutaneous coronary intervention; PTCA, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty; STEMI, ST elevation myocardial infarction; TIMI, thrombolysis in myocardial infarction; TNK, tenecteplase; tPA, tissue plasminogen activator

Keywords: percutaneous coronary intervention; ST elevation myocardial infarction; STEMI

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Multiple, large randomised trials comparing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with fibrinolytic therapy for ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) have shown that primary PCI results in lower rates of death, reinfarction, and stroke.¹ Consequently, primary PCI has become the preferred reperfusion strategy for STEMI. Unfortunately, primary PCI is available in only a minority of hospitals, and concern that treatment delays inherent in transporting patients from non-interventional hospitals to interventional hospitals may compromise outcomes, has limited the use of primary PCI. Recent trials in Europe have documented superior outcomes in patients with STEMI presenting at non-interventional hospitals when they are transferred to an interventional facility for primary PCI compared with being treated locally with fibrinolytic therapy, despite treatment delays of about one hour.^2,3

Unfortunately, treatment delays in transferring patients from non-interventional to interventional hospitals are often longer than this in the "real world". This has stimulated interest in combining pharmacological treatment . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Smith, E J, Mathur, A, Rothman, M T (2005). Recent advances in primary percutaneous intervention for acute myocardial infarction. Heart 91: 1533-1536 [Full Text]