BACKGROUND: Clinical trials addressing the safety and efficacy of drug-eluting stents (DES) for the treatment of patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) showed lower rates of target vessel revascularization (TVR) compared to bare stents. However, these trials have excluded high risk patients and complex lesion subsets. Furthermore, the long-term follow-up of these patients is unknown. OBJECTIVES: To analyze the cumulative rates of major adverse events and stent thrombosis at long-term follow-up after unrestricted use of DES in patients with STEMI. METHODS: From 01/2004 to 12/2006, 104 consecutive patients underwent percutaneous coronary intervention for STEMI with DES implantation and comprised the present study population. We analyzed the cumulative rates of adverse events: death, reinfarction, the target vessel revascularization (TVR) and the rates of stent thrombosis at a mean clinical follow-up of 20.9 ± 10.5 months. RESULTS: A total of 104 patients were included in this study. The mean age was 63 ± 12 years, 82% were male and 23% diabetic. Killip III or IV were diagnosed at presentation in 17% of patients. The mean time of dual anti-platelet therapy was 13.29 ± 9.26 months. The cumulative incidence of major adverse events was 11.5%. The incidence of TVR was 2.9%. Definitive stent thrombosis occurred in 1.9% of patients. By multivariate analysis, the only independent predictor of major adverse events was Killip class III or IV at presentation (OR: 9.4 CI 95% [2.16-40.81]; p=0.003). CONCLUSION: In this registry composed by "real world" patients, the unrestricted use of DES for the treatment of STEMI was safe and effective at long term follow-up.
Myocardial infarction; Stents; Angioplasty, transluminal, percutaneous coronary; Outcome assessment