The impact of successful manual thrombus aspiration on in-stent restenosis after primary PCI

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to investigate the impact of successful manual thrombus aspiration on angiographic in-stent restenosis and clinical outcome in patients treated by bare metal stent implantation for ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction. BACKGROUND: There are very limited data on the impact of manual thrombus aspiration on the occurrence of in-stent restenosis after bare metal stent implantation. METHODS: This was a prospective, randomized, single-center study. Patients (N=60) presenting within 12 h of ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction symptom onset were randomized to primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with (N=30) or without (N=30) upfront manual thrombus aspiration using the Export aspiration catheter. All patients underwent control coronary angiography after 6 months. RESULTS: Baseline, clinical, and angiographic preprocedural findings did not differ between the two groups. Patients who underwent successful manual thrombus aspiration had significantly higher minimal lumen diameter after 6 months (2.25±0.90 vs. 1.63±0.76, P=0.005), significantly lower percentage diameter stenosis (28.81 vs. 45.03%, P=0.017), and significantly lower late lumen loss (0.73±0.84 vs. 1.18±0.79, P=0.035). There was a trend for lower rate of major adverse cardiocerebrovascular events such as death, myocardial reinfarction, stroke, and target lesion revascularization in the same group of patients (16.67 vs. 26.67%, P=0.347). CONCLUSION: Successful upfront manual thrombus aspiration during primary PCI showed beneficial effects on the reduction of in-stent restenosis after bare metal stent implantation compared with standard PCI.