Routine Thrombus Aspiration for STEMI: No Benefit at 1 Year

Strong evidence to skip the aspiration catheter before percutaneous coronary intervention

Thrombus aspiration before percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has shown no mortality advantage over PCI alone at 30 days after ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI; NEJM JW Cardiol Feb 6 2008 [TAPAS] and Sep 1 2013 [TASTE]). Now, researchers report on clinical outcomes 1 year after PCI for the original 7244 participants in TASTE, a partly industry-funded, open-label, randomized trial from the Swedish Coronary Angiography and Angioplasty Registry.

All-cause mortality was statistically similar in the thrombus-aspiration group (5.3%) and the PCI-only group (5.6%), as were rates of rehospitalization for MI (2.7% in both groups), stent thrombosis (0.7% and 0.9%, respectively), and the composite of the three outcomes (8.0% and 8…

Reviewing Author

Beat J. Meyer, MD

Disclosures

Leadership positions in professional societiesBern Heart Foundation (President); International Academy of Medicine, Bern, Switzerland (Director)

Beat J. Meyer, MD

Disclosures

Leadership positions in professional societiesBern Heart Foundation (President); International Academy of Medicine, Bern, Switzerland (Director)

Routine Thrombus Aspiration for STEMI: No Benefit at 1 Year

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Reviewing Author