Efficacy and safety of tirofiban-supported primary percutaneous coronary intervention in patients pretreated with 600 mg clopidogrel: results of propensity analysis using the Clinical Center of Serbia STEMI Register

BACKGROUND: Studies with platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor inhibitors (GPIs) showed conflicting results in primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) patients who were pretreated with 600 mg clopidogrel. We sought to investigate the short- and long-term efficacy and safety of the periprocedural administration of tirofiban in a largest Serbian PPCI centre. METHODS: We analysed 2995 consecutive PPCI patients enrolled in the Clinical Center of Serbia STEMI Register, between February 2007 and March 2012. All patients were pretreated with 600 mg clopidogrel and 300 mg aspirin. Major adverse cardiovascular events, comprising all-cause death, nonfatal infarction, nonfatal stroke, and ischaemia-driven target vessel revascularization, was the primary efficacy end point. TIMI major bleeding was the key safety end point. RESULTS: Analyses drawn from the propensity-matched sample showed improved primary efficacy end point in the tirofiban group at 30-day (OR 0.72, 95% CI 0.53-0.97) and at 1-year (OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.57-0.96) follow up. Moreover, tirofiban group had a significantly lower 30-day all-cause mortality (secondary end point; OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.40-0.90), compared with patients who were not administered tirofiban. At 1 year, a trend towards a lower all-cause mortality was observed in the tirofiban group (OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.53-1.04). No differences were found with respect to the TIMI major bleeding during the follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: Tirofiban administered with PPCI, following 600 mg clopidogrel pretreatment, improved primary efficacy outcome at 30 days and at 1 year follow up without an increase in major bleeding.