Objectives: To investigate the effects of abciximab on mortality in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) including stent implantation.
Design: Meta-analysis of three selected randomized studies and analysis of data from the Swedish Coronary Angiography and Angioplasty Registry (SCAAR).
Subjects: Pooled data from randomized studies containing in total 1,736 patients undergoing PCI with stent implantation because of STEMI with duration between symptom and treatment <12 h, and 7,436 patients from SCAAR treated with PCI because of STEMI (52% treated with abciximab) in Sweden 2000-2004.
Results: Analyses of pooled data showed that abciximab was associated with a decreased risk of reinfarction [odds ratio (OR) 0.38] and urgent target vessel revascularization (OR 0.38) at 30 days. No effect was seen on mortality at 30 days or 6 months. Multivariate analysis of data from SCAAR showed that abciximab reduced the risk of death during 14 months of follow-up (hazard ratio 0.82).
Conclusions: The results are encouraging and support the ACC/AHA and ESC recommendation to use abciximab in treatment of STEMI with PCI including stent implantation. Considering that the pooled results from previous trials showed no effect of abciximab on mortality and the registry part of the present study was observational, the results encourage carrying out new randomized studies of abciximab in STEMI treated with PCI, including stent implantation, with sufficient size and length of follow-up.