Study Overview
Objective. To determine whether percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of a nonculprit lesion in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) reduces the risk of cardiovascular death or myocardial infarction.
Design. International, multicenter, randomized controlled trial blinded to outcome.
Setting and participants. Patients with STEMI who had multivessel coronary disease and had undergone successful PCI to the culprit lesion.
Intervention. A total of 4041 patients were randomly assigned to either PCI of angiographically significant nonculprit lesions or optimal medical therapy without further revascularization. Randomization was stratified according to intended timing of nonculprit lesion PCI (either during or after the index hospitalization).
Main outcome measures. The first co-primary endpoint was the composite of cardiovascular death or myocardial infarction (MI). The second co-primary endpoint was the composite of cardiovascular death, MI or ischemia-driven revascularization.
Main results. At a median follow-up of 3 years, the composite of cardiovascular death or MI occurred in 158 of the 2016 patients (7.8%) in the nonculprit PCI group and in 213 of the 2025 patients (10.5%) in the culprit-lesion-only group (hazard ratio, 0.73; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.60-0.91; P = 0.004). The second co-primary endpoint occurred in 179 patients (8.9%) in the nonculprit PCI group and in 339 patients (16.7%) in the culprit-lesion-only group (hazard ratio, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.43-0.61; P < 0.001).
Conclusion. Among patients with STEMI and multivessel disease, those who underwent complete revascularization with nonculprit lesion PCI had lower rates of cardiovascular death or MI compared to patients with culprit-lesion-only revascularization.