Impact of direct stenting on outcome of patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction transferred for primary percutaneous coronary intervention (from the EUROTRANSFER registry).
OBJECTIVES
We sought to evaluate the impact of direct stenting technique on angiographic and clinical outcomes of patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary angioplasty (PCI).


METHODS
Data on 1,419 patients who underwent immediate PCI for STEMI with implantation of ≥1 stent within native coronary artery were retrieved from the EUROTRANSFER Registry database. Patients were stratified based on the stent implantation technique: direct (without predilatation) vs. conventional stenting. Propensity score adjustment was used to control possible selection bias.


RESULTS
Direct stenting technique was used in 276 (19.5%) patients. Remaining 1,143 patients were treated with stent implantation after balloon predilatation. Direct compared with conventional stenting resulted in significantly greater rates of postprocedural TIMI grade 3 flow (conventional vs. direct stenting: 91.5% vs. 94.9%, adjusted OR 2.09 (1.13-3.89), P = 0.020), and lower risk of no-reflow (3.4% vs. 1.4%, adjusted OR 0.31 (0.10-0.92), P = 0.035). The rates for ST-segment resolution >50% after PCI were higher in patients treated with direct stenting technique (76.3% vs. 86.2%, adjusted OR 1.64 (1.10-2.46), P = 0.016). A significant reduction in 1-year mortality in patients from the direct stenting group compared with the conventional stenting group, even after adjustment for propensity score was observed (6.5% vs. 2.9%, adjusted OR 0.45 (0.21-0.99), P = 0.047).


CONCLUSIONS
When anatomically and technically feasible, the use of direct stenting technique may result in improved long-term survival in patients with STEMI undergoing primary PCI.