Background: We investigated whether an additional intracoronary tirofiban bolus administration following upstream intravenous treatment could further improve myocardial reperfusion and clinical outcome in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
Methods: A total of 453 eligible STEMI patients were randomly allocated to intracoronary bolus administration of tirofiban (10 μg/kg; n=229) or saline (10 mL; n=224) during primary PCI, followed by intravenous tirofiban infusion (0.15 μg/kg/min) for 24-36 h. Serum levels of P-selectin, vWF, CD40L and serum amyloid A (SAA) in the coronary sinus were measured before and after intracoronary bolus administration. The primary endpoint was ST-segment resolution (STR) at 90 min after the procedure. Second endpoints included corrected TIMI frame count (cTFC), left ventricular volumes and ejection fraction (EF), and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) at 30-day and 6-month follow-up.
Results: Intracoronary tirofiban administration resulted in a higher rate of completed STR (59.0% vs. 44.6%, P=0.002), lower cTFC (21.6±5.4 vs. 23.7±7.8, P=0.048), and significantly reduced coronary sinus levels of P-selectin, vWF, CD40L and SAA. Patients treated with intracoronary tirofiban had a trend toward less MACE at 30 days (3.1% vs. 6.7%, P=0.072). At 6 months, left ventricular end-systolic volume was smaller, EF was higher and MACE-free survival was improved (96.1% vs. 90.6%, P=0.020) in the intracoronary tirofiban group.
Conclusions: An additional intracoronary tirofiban bolus administration following upstream intravenous treatment reduces coronary circulatory platelet activation and inflammatory process, and significantly improves myocardial reperfusion and left ventricular function as well as 6-month MACE-free survival for STEMI patients undergoing primary PCI.
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