Philippe Gabriel Steg, Arnoud van 't Hof, Christian W Hamm, Peter Clemmensen, Frédéric Lapostolle, Pierre Coste, Jurrien Ten Berg, Pierre Van Grunsven, Gerrit Jan Eggink, Lutz Nibbe, Uwe Zeymer, Marco Campo dell' Orto, Holger Nef, Jacob Steinmetz, Louis Soulat, Kurt Huber, Efthymios N Deliargyris, Debra Bernstein, Diana Schuette, Jayne Prats, Tim Clayton, Stuart Pocock, Martial Hamon, Patrick Goldstein
BACKGROUND: Bivalirudin, as compared with heparin and glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors, has been shown to reduce rates of bleeding and death in patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Whether these benefits persist in contemporary practice characterized by prehospital initiation of treatment, optional use of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors and novel P2Y12 inhibitors, and radial-artery PCI access use is unknown. METHODS: We randomly assigned 2218 patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) who were being transported for primary PCI to receive either bivalirudin or unfractionated or low-molecular-weight heparin with optional glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors (control group)...
December 5, 2013: New England Journal of Medicine