BACKGROUND: There are few contemporary studies assessing direct stenting in patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (AMI). METHOD: Prospective cohort study in consecutive patients with AMI seen at a reference cardiology center from December 2009 to January 2010. Clinical and laboratory data, angiographic characteristics and hospital outcomes were evaluated. Patients with over 12 hours of symptom onset, with less than 18 years of age and those who denied participating in the study were excluded. Patients undergoing direct stenting were compared to those treated with stent with balloon pre-dilatation. Data were entered in a dedicated database and analyzed by SPSS 17.0. RESULTS: During the study period, 98 patients were submitted to primary angioplasty, of which 33 (34.7%) received direct stenting and 65 (65.3%) underwent stent with balloon pre-dilatation. Mean age was 58.6 ± 10.6 years and 63% were men. Direct stenting was less frequent in calcified lesions (9% vs. 30%; P = 0.02) and more frequent in those with TIMI 3 before the procedure (41% vs. 18%; P = 0.06) and thrombus aspiration was more frequently used in these cases (41% vs. 14%; P = 0.003). There was no statistically significant difference for the clinical outcome in both groups of patients. CONCLUSION: Direct stenting was more frequently used in patients with normal flow prior the procedure and in combination with thrombus aspiration and less used in calcified lesions. It was not associated to significant differences in clinical outcome rates.
Angioplasty; Stents; Myocardial infarction
