Objectives: We sought to compare outcomes between patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) undergoing percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) with an optimal or "stent-like" result versus patients who underwent routine stent placement.
Background: Recent studies in patients with AMI undergoing stent implantation have suggested that PTCA may no longer be a relevant treatment modality for stent eligible lesions. However, whether routine stent placement is superior or necessary when an optimal PTCA or "stent-like" result is achieved is unknown.
Methods: In the Controlled Abciximab and Device Investigation to Lower Late Angioplasty Complications (CADILLAC) trial, 2,082 patients with AMI were randomly assigned to undergo PTCA alone, PTCA + abciximab, stenting alone, or stenting + abciximab. Outcomes were compared in patients achieving an optimal acute PTCA result (residual core laboratory diameter stenosis <30% without significant dissection) versus those assigned to routine stenting.
Results: Optimal PTCA was achieved in 40.7% of patients randomized to balloon angioplasty, including 38.5% and 42.7% assigned to PTCA alone and PTCA + abciximab, respectively. Ischemic target vessel revascularization (TVR) at 30 days occurred more frequently after optimal PTCA than routine stenting (5.1% vs. 2.3%, p = 0.007). The one-year composite adverse event rate (death, reinfarction, disabling stroke, or TVR) was greater after optimal PTCA than routine stenting (21.9% vs. 13.8%, p < 0.001), driven largely by increased rates of ischemic TVR (19.1% vs. 9.1%, p < 0.001); no significant differences were present in the rates of death, reinfarction, or disabling stroke between the two groups. Angiographic restenosis also was more common with optimal PTCA than routine stenting (36.2% vs. 22.2%, p = 0.003). Even a post-PTCA diameter stenosis of <20% (realized in 12% of patients) did not result in outcomes equivalent to stenting.
Conclusions: Even if an optimal result is achieved after primary PTCA in AMI, early and late outcomes can be further improved with routine stent implantation.