Loading...
In acute MI patients, the use of fibrinolytics before primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) generally worsens outcomes (Journal Watch Cardiology Mar 16 2006). Now researchers in Turkey have conducted a pilot study to determine how low-dose streptokinase given after PCI affects microvascular perfusion.
Forty-one patients who underwent PCI with stent implantation <12 hours after onset of MI symptoms were randomized to receive either 250 kU of streptokinase (infused for 3 minutes through the guiding catheter) or no additional therapy. All patients received aspirin, clopidogrel, intracoronary heparin, tirofiban, and post-procedure low-molecular-weight heparin for 48 hours. Investigators used intracoronary hemodynamic and angiographic …