CORONARY REPERFUSION RATES IN ACUTE MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION PATIENTS AFTER THROMBOLYTIC TREATMENT WITH ANISTREPLASE - CORRELATION WITH THE DELAY FROM ONSET OF SYMPTOMS TO TREATMENT - A REVIEW OF 424 CASE RECORDS OF PATIENTS ADMITTED TO CORONARY REPERFUSION STUDIES WITH ANISTREPLASE

The individual data for 424 acute myocardial infarction patients from 15 reperfusion studies conducted with anistreplase were reviewed to assess the correlation between the delay onset of symptoms to treatment and reperfusion of the coronary artery. The patients had a mean age of 56 years and 85.4% were male. All patients had a baseline angiogram showing an occluded coronary artery. Anistreplase was given in doses ranging from 3.75 to 35 IU (60% of patients received 30 IU). The mean delay between onset of symptoms to treatment was 3 h 29 min and reperfusion was observed in a total of 61.1% of patients. There was a highly significant correlation between reperfusion and the delay from onset of symptoms to treatment (p < 0.001). A multivariate logistic regression was performed adjusting for age, sex, location of infarct, dose, and concomitant treatment. The only remaining statistically significant prediction factor for reperfusion was the delay between onset of symptoms to treatment (p < 0.001). In conclusion, the ability of anistreplase to cause the lysis of coronary thrombi appears to be increasingly important as the delay from onset of symptoms to treatment is decreased. This may contribute to the lower mortality rate observed with early fibrinolytic treatment.