Possibly, according to an OAT substudy, but further investigation is needed.
In the Occluded Artery Trial (OAT), MI patients with a totally occluded infarct-related artery derived no more benefit from late percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) than from optimal medical therapy alone (MED-alone; Journal Watch Cardiology Nov 14 2006). In TOSCA-2, a Canadian substudy of OAT, PCI plus stenting was specifically compared with MED-alone.
Like the OAT subjects, the 381 TOSCA-2 subjects underwent angiography 3 to 28 days after MI (TOSCA-2 median, 10 days). Each TOSCA-2 subject had a totally occluded infarct-related artery suitable for stenting and met at least one high-risk criterion (involvement of >25% of the left ventricle or LV ejection fraction <50%).
Nearly everyone in the planned-PCI group received a stent; 85% achie…