Intracoronary Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa Inhibitors Improve Short-Term Mortality and Reinfarction in East Asian Patients with ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction after Thrombus Aspiration: A Meta-Analysis

Objective. Intracoronary (IC) glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors (GPIs) after thrombus aspiration (TA) for patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), as compared with percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) alone, is still on debate. To address this issue, we performed a meta-analysis of results from prospective or randomized controlled trials on the topic. Methods. We searched electronic and printed sources (up to June 20, 2016) according to the selection criteria. Data were abstraction and meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. Results. The cohorts involved 14 articles describing 1,918 participants were included. The incidence of the short-term major adverse cardiac events (MACE) was significantly reduced with intracoronary GPIs after TA (odds ratio [OR]: 0.29; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.13 to 0.65, p=0.003). Benefits were noted for short-term mortality (OR: 0.31; 95% CI: 0.17 to 0.57, p=0.0002) and reinfarction (OR: 0.28; 95% CI: 0.10 to 0.78, p=0.01) in subjects who received intracoronary GPIs after TA. Moreover, the Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) trial grade 3 postprocedure (OR: 2.29; 95% CI: 1.72 to 3.04, P<0.00001) and complete ST-segment resolution (STR) rate (OR: 2.68; 95% CI: 1.85 to 3.87, P<0.00001) were both improved with intracoronary GPIs after TA. As a result, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) at short-term follow-up showed a significant difference (OR: 7.33; 95% CI: 5.60 to 9.06, p