Holger Thiele, Uwe Zeymer, Franz-Josef Neumann, Miroslaw Ferenc, Hans-Georg Olbrich, Jörg Hausleiter, Gert Richardt, Marcus Hennersdorf, Klaus Empen, Georg Fuernau, Steffen Desch, Ingo Eitel, Rainer Hambrecht, Jörg Fuhrmann, Michael Böhm, Henning Ebelt, Steffen Schneider, Gerhard Schuler, Karl Werdan
BACKGROUND: In current international guidelines, intraaortic balloon counterpulsation is considered to be a class I treatment for cardiogenic shock complicating acute myocardial infarction. However, evidence is based mainly on registry data, and there is a paucity of randomized clinical trials. METHODS: In this randomized, prospective, open-label, multicenter trial, we randomly assigned 600 patients with cardiogenic shock complicating acute myocardial infarction to intraaortic balloon counterpulsation (IABP group, 301 patients) or no intraaortic balloon counterpulsation (control group, 299 patients)...
October 4, 2012: New England Journal of Medicine