Introduction and objective: The presence of intracoronary thrombus is associated with less favorable results of percutaneous coronary interventions. In recent years, new devices have been designed to improve the outcome of these procedures when an intracoronary thrombus is present. The results of two new systems of thrombectomy used in a single center are analyzed.
Methods: Prospective observational registry of the use of two thrombectomy devices, X-SIZER (EndiCOR Medical Inc., San Clemente, California, USA) and RESCUE (Boston Scientific Scimed, Inc., Maple Grove, Minnesota, USA), between 1 June 2000 and 15 February 2002. RESULTS. One hundred thirty-nine devices were used in 137 patients (112 RESCUE and 27 X-SIZER). The main indication was primary angioplasty for acute myocardial infarction (80%). In 7 patients (5%), unscheduled thrombectomy was performed for unexpected complications that appeared during the procedure. In 75% of patients, IIb/IIIa inhibitors were given. In 10 cases (7%) the device did not reach the lesion. Complications derived from the use of the device were recorded in 3 cases (2.1%). TIMI flow improved from 1.28 1.1 before thrombectomy to 2.31 1.2 after the procedure. Improvement in the thrombus image was observed in 86%. The intervention was successful in 86%.
Conclusions: Thrombectomy with X-Sizer and Rescue improved the angiographic thrombus image in most cases and was associated to a low complication rate. Its efficacy compared to the conventional technique should be assessed in future trials.