Strategies in mechanical interventions for acute MI: facilitated and rescue PCI
Abstract
Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) is the superior strategy for treating acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) as an initial strategy within the first 6 hours from symptom onset. Facilitation of PCI by the use of pre-treatment, prior to planned PCI, with thrombolytic drugs or glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa inhibitors has held theoretical promise for earlier infarct related arterial patency, but has failed to deliver on such promise.Thrombolysis as an initial strategy is inevitable in a large number of STEMI patients due to limited access to primary PCI. This strategy has limited success, and when it fails, rescue PCI has benefit and is recommended. Mechanical methods such as thrombectomy and distal protection, while having an intuitively plausible mechanism for benefit, have also failed to meet expectations and have a limited role in acute STEMI.
Downloads
Copyright (c) 2017 SA Heart Journal

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
This journal is an open access journal, and the authors and journal should be properly acknowledged, when works are cited.
Authors may use the publishers version for teaching purposes, in books, theses, dissertations, conferences and conference papers.Â
A copy of the authors’ publishers version may also be hosted on the following websites:
- Non-commercial personal homepage or blog.
- Institutional webpage.
- Authors Institutional Repository.Â
The following notice should accompany such a posting on the website: “This is an electronic version of an article published in SAHJ, Volume XXX, number XXX, pages XXX–XXX”, DOI. Authors should also supply a hyperlink to the original paper or indicate where the original paper (http://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/SAHJ) may be found.Â
Authors publishers version, affiliated with the Stellenbosch University will be automatically deposited in the University’s’ Institutional Repository SUNScholar.
Articles as a whole, may not be re-published with another journal.
Copyright Holder: SA Heart Journal
The following license applies:
Attribution CC BY-NC-ND 4.0