Long-term clinical outcomes of thrombus aspiration in STEMI patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention.

BACKGROUND Clinical trials that evaluated long-term clinical outcomes of thrombus aspiration before primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) have shown different results. Thus, this study was designed to evaluate the long-term clinical outcomes and trends in present usage of thrombosuction in STEMI patients undergoing primary PCI. METHODS This was a single-center, retrospective study conducted at a tertiary-care center in India between January 2016 and December 2018. A total of 241 patients with STEMI who underwent primary PCI were differentiated into thrombus aspiration or standard primary PCI group. Primary endpoint was major adverse cardiac events (MACE) at 1-year. The other safety outcome measured at 1-year follow-up was stent thrombosis. RESULTS Among 241 patients, 119 patients were included in the thrombus aspiration group and 122 patients were included in the standard primary PCI group. All patients underwent 1-year follow-up. MACE rate was found to be 4.2% and 4.9% in thrombus aspiration and standard primary PCI group (P=0.79), respectively. Death from any cause was found to be higher in thrombus aspiration 7 (5.9%) compared to standard primary PCI group 5 (4.1%). Of which, cardiac death has occurred in 5 (4.2%) patients of thrombus aspiration group and 4 (3.3%) patients of standard primary PCI group (P=0.747). Definite stent thrombosis was observed in 1 (0.8%) patient of both the groups (P=1.00). CONCLUSION The study concludes that there was no significant benefit of thrombus aspiration concerning mortality rate or any other clinical outcomes at 1-year in STEMI patients.