Acute versus subacute angiography in patients with non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction – the NONSTEMI trial phase I

Background:The 2015 European Society of Cardiology non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) guidelines recommend angiography within 24 h in high-risk patients with NSTEMI. An organized STEMI-like approach with pre-hospital or immediate in-hospital triage for acute coronary angiography (CAG) may be of therapeutic benefit but it remains unknown whether the patients can be properly diagnosed in the pre-hospital setting. We aim to evaluate whether it is feasible to diagnose patients with NSTEMI in the pre-hospital phase or immediately upon admission.Methods and results:We randomized 250 patients to either acute or subacute CAG (i.e. <72 h of admission). Pre-hospital electrocardiogram acquisition and point-of-care troponin-T measurement ensured that 148 (59%) patients were identified already in the ambulance, whereas the remaining 102 (41%) patients were identified immediately after hospital admission. An acute coronary syndrome was verified in 215 (86%) and NSTEMI in 159 (64%) patients. The CAG rate wa...