Comparison of thrombolytic therapy and primary coronary angioplasty with liberal stenting for inferior myocardial infarction with precordial ST-segment depression: immediate and long-term results of a randomized study

Comparison of in-hospital outcomes after coronary angioplasty with or without stent placement for acute myocardial infarction

This study compared the in-hospital outcomes of patients treated with or without stent placement during mechanical revascularization for acute myocardial infarction. After correction for differences in baseline characteristics, patients treated with stent placement had lower in-hospital mortality.

Update in internal medicine

More than 500,000 new medical articles are published every year and available time to keep updated is scarcer every day. Nowadays, the task of selecting useful, consistent, and relevant information for clinicians is a priority in many major medical journals. This review has the aim of gathering the results of the most important findings in clinical medicine in the last few years. It is focused on results from randomized clinical trials and well-designed observational research. Findings were included preferentially if they showed solid results, and we avoided as much as possible including only preliminary data, or results that included only non-clinical outcomes. Some of the most relevant findings reported here include the significant benefit of statins in patients with coronary artery disease even with mean cholesterol level. It also provides a substantial review of the most significant trials assessing the effectiveness of IIb/IIIa receptor blockers. In gastroenterology many advances have been made in the H. pylori eradication, and the finding that the cure of H. pylori infection may be followed by gastroesophageal reflux disease. Some new antivirals have shown encouraging results in patients with chronic hepatitis. In the infectious disease arena, the late breaking trials in anti-retroviral disease are discussed, as well as the new trends regarding antibiotic resistance. This review approaches also the role of leukotriene modifiers in the treatment of asthma and discusses the benefit of using methylprednisolone in patients with adult respiratory distress syndrome, among many other advances in internal medicine.

[The practical clinical guidelines of the Sociedad Española de Cardiología on interventional cardiology: coronary angioplasty and other technics]

Interventional cardiology has had an extraordinary expansion in last years. This clinical guideline is a review of the scientific evidence of the techniques in relation to clinical and anatomic findings. The review includes: 1. Coronary arteriography. 2. Coronary balloon angioplasty. 3. Coronary stents. 4. Other techniques: directional atherectomy, rotational atherectomy, transluminal extraction atherectomy, cutting balloon, laser angioplasty and transmyocardial laser and endovascular radiotherapy. 5. Platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors. 6. New diagnostic techniques: intravascular ultrasound, coronary angioscopy, Doppler and pressure wire. For the recommendations we have used the classification system: class I, IIa, IIb, III like in the guidelines of the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association.

Do new devices add to the results of PTCA in acute myocardial infarction?

Several randomized trials have established that timely mechanical reperfusion with the use of balloon angioplasty is superior to thrombolytic therapy in patients with acute myocardial infarction. Furthermore, recent data from prospective randomized trials suggest that primary stent implantation may further improve the results of balloon angioplasty by reducing the need for repeat interventions at follow-up. The role of IIb-IIIa platelet receptor antagonists as adjunctive therapy to catheter-based coronary interventions in acute myocardial infarction is promising, but the incremental benefit that these agents add to stent implantation awaits the results of dedicated randomized trials. Mechanical thrombolysis or thrombectomy devices may have a role in a minority of patients with large thrombus burden.