Role of thrombolysis in the treatment of cardiogenic shock following myocardial infarct

: Of a total of 329 consecutive patients treated by thrombolysis with recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator following myocardial infarction, 13 (4%) were in cardiogenic shock at the time of admission to hospital, and 4 others (1.2%) developed cardiogenic shock during their hospital stay. Overall hospital mortality for shock was high at 88% (15 of 17 patients), and shock was responsible for 57.6% (15 of 26) of all hospital deaths. Although several studies have shown that thrombolysis reduces the likelihood of cardiogenic shock developing after admission, our data confirm that it does not constitute effective treatment of established shock. More aggressive approaches, using thrombolysis together with angioplasty and mechanical ventricular assist devices, need to be evaluated.