Availability of on-site catheterization and clinical outcomes in patients receiving fibrinolysis for ST-elevation myocardial infarction

Abstract
Aims To compare management and clinical outcomes in hospitals stratified by the availability of on-site catheterization in InTIME-II, a multicentre trial comparing alteplase with lanoteplase for acute myocardial infarction. Methods and Results We studied 15–078 patients enrolled in 35 countries and 855 hospitals. Thirty-one percent of hospitals had 24-h, 25% day-only, and 44% no on-site catheterization facilities. Rates of cardiac angiography (57%, 38%, 26%) and revascularization (37%, 21%, 17%) were higher in hospitals with increasing access to on-site facilities ) Conclusions There is a marked variation in procedure use by the availability of on-site catheterization with no major differences in patient outcomes. There is a need for additional randomized trials in the current era to address both the appropriate selection of patients and timing of invasive procedures in ST-elevation acute myocardial infarction.

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