Effects of intracoronary compared to intravenous abciximab administration in patients undergoing transradial percutaneous coronary intervention: A sub-analysis of the EASY trial

Background: In the EASY trial, we have shown the clinical equivalence between abciximab bolus-only and abciximab bolus followed by 12-h infusion in a wide spectrum of patients after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Some reports have suggested better outcomes following intracoronary (IC) abciximab administration compared to intravenous (IV) delivery. We sought to compare cardiac biomarkers release and early and late clinical outcomes after IC or IV abciximab bolus delivery. Methods: From 1005 patients randomized in the EASY trial and undergoing transradial coronary stent implantation, 208 received IC abciximab bolus and 797 received IV abciximab bolus. Route of administration was left to operators' discretion. Creatine Kinase-MB, and Troponin-T (Tn-T) were obtained immediately prior to angiography, 4-6 h after PCI and the next day. MACE (death, MI, TVR) rate was evaluated at 30 days, 6 months and 12 months. Results: There were more patients with acute coronary syndrome (75% vs 64%, P=0.004) and previous MI (53% vs 42%, P=0.005) in the IC group and more patients with >= 3 dilated sites in the IV group (2% IC vs 7% IV, P=0.03). After PCI, the extent of Tn-T and CK-MB release remained comparable in both groups. The MACE rate was 2% in both groups at 30 days, 9% in IC bolus vs 5% in IV bolus (P=0.04) at 6 months and 10% in IC bolus vs 9% in IV bolus (P=0.50) at 12 months. By multivariate analysis, IC abciximab bolus was not associated with better outcomes at 12 months compared to IV bolus (HR 1.07, 95% CI 0.82-1.35, P=0.62). Conclusion: Compared to IV abciximab administration, IC abciximab was not associated with less cardiac biomarkers release or better clinical outcomes after uncomplicated transradial PCI. Further studies are required in clinical scenarios including patients with higher thrombotic burden and/or occluded vessels as in primary and rescue PCI. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.