Serial angiographic assessment of coronary artery obstruction and collateral flow in acute myocardial infarction. Report from the second Mount Sinai-New York University Reperfusion Trial.

In the Second Mt. Sinai-New York University Reperfusion Trial, in which change of ejection fraction was the primary end point, the following secondary end points were prospectively assessed by serial coronary angiography: patency of the infarct artery both before intervention and 10-14 days later, acute and delayed recanalization rates, presence or absence of collateral flow, and complication rates of acute interventional catheterization. We assigned 393 patients randomly to groups receiving acute cardiac catheterization and a double-blind intracoronary infusion of streptokinase (SK arm), both streptokinase and nitroglycerin (SK-NTG arm), nitroglycerin alone (NTG arm), or conventional therapy without acute catheterization (control arm). Prospective stratification was based on duration of infarct pain before randomization: group A, less than 2 hours; Group B, 2-12 hours. Baseline patency rates were comparable in patients studied within 6 hours (30%, 40 of 135) and those studied later (24%, 32 of 133). This finding refutes the hypothesis that spontaneous recanalization occurs frequently after 6 hours. The acute recanalization rates of the SK arm (60%, 40 of 67) and the SK-NTG arm (63%, 29 of 62) did not differ. During streptokinase infusion, more vessels recanalized in group A (81%, 22 of 27) than in group B (56%, 57 of 102) (p less than 0.01); this was due to a significant reduction of recanalization rates from 75% (48 of 64) to 45% (26 of 62) with treatment after 6 hours (p less than 0.01). Delayed recanalization, that is, patency at end point but not postintervention, was seen in 17% (17 of 100) of total occlusions treated with streptokinase. In group A, all total occlusions treated with streptokinase recanalized either acutely (20 of 22) or delayed (two of 22), whereas in group B, 23% (18 of 78) remained obstructed. The reocclusion rate in the SK arms was 17% (11 of 65). In the NTG arm, recanalization occurred during intervention in 4% (two of 47) and delayed in 45% (21 of 47). At end-point angiography, the patency rates of the NTG arm (62%, 41 of 66) and the control arm (58%, 36 of 62) were comparable; those of the SK arms were higher (75%, 105 of 140) (p less than 0.01). Total occlusion was associated with collateral flow in 33% (66 of 199) at baseline; the prevalence of collaterals did not increase with time to angiography, which indicates that they had developed before the index event.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)