Effects of pretreatment with clopidogrel on nonemergent percutaneous coronary intervention after fibrinolytic administration for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction: a Clopidogrel as Adjunctive Reperfusion Therapy-Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (CLARITY-TIMI) 28 study.

BACKGROUND: The use of routine nonemergent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) among patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) after fibrinolytic therapy is unknown. We sought to evaluate the effect of nonemergent PCI on mortality among patients with STEMI treated with fibrinolytic administration and the consequence of clopidogrel pretreatment on this effect.

METHODS: CLARITY-TIMI 28 randomized 3491 patients with STEMI treated with fibrinolytic administration and aspirin to clopidogrel or placebo. All patients were to undergo angiography 48 to 192 hours after randomization. Percutaneous coronary intervention was performed at the discretion of the treating physician. Nonemergent PCI, which was defined as PCI that was not precipitated by recurrent myocardial infarction, was performed in 1781 patients (55.7%).

RESULTS: Nonemergent PCI did not affect 30-day mortality (2.0% vs 2.3% among patients who did not undergo PCI). However, nonemergent PCI was associated with lower mortality among patients randomized to clopidogrel (1.3% vs 2.8%, P = .04) but not among those randomized to placebo (2.6% vs 1.7%, P = .25; interaction P = .025). In multivariate modeling, PCI remained associated with lower mortality among patients randomized to clopidogrel (OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.13-0.92, P = .034) but not placebo (OR 1.41, 95% CI 0.63-3.19, P = .40, interaction P = .028).

CONCLUSION: Among patients with STEMI treated with fibrinolytic administration and aspirin, nonemergent PCI was associated with lower mortality among patients pretreated with clopidogrel. These results suggest that routine nonemergent PCI is beneficial among such patients, although further confirmatory randomized studies are needed.