Thrombectomy in ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction, an Individual Patient Meta-analysis

Acute Coronary Syndromes, Myocardial Infarction

thrombectomy, acute coronary syndromes, percutaneous coronary intervention, STEMI

During primary percutaneous coronary intervention, distal embolization of thrombus and impaired microvascular perfusion has been associated with an increased mortality. Thrombectomy devices during primary percutaneous coronary intervention may prevent distal embolization by reducing thrombus burden and thus improve microvascular perfusion and reduce mortality.

An individual patient meta-analysis of large randomized controlled trials comparing manual thrombectomy versus percutaneous coronary intervention alone in patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction will provide significantly more power to detect differences in mortality as well as important but rare events such as stroke and to assess benefits in pre-defined subgroups.