Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) can improve long-term percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) outcomes among acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients, according to a new analysis published in JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions.
“IVUS-guided PCI has been recommended for the optimization of stent implantation and special subsets, such as left main PCI,” wrote lead author Ik Jun Choi, a cardiologist at the Catholic University of Korea, and colleagues. “However, IVUS-guided PCI has been associated mainly with a reduced risk for revascularization and stent thrombosis, not mortality.”
To learn more, the study’s authors examined data from nearly 10,000 AMI patients who underwent PCI with a drug-eluting stent. The mean patient age was 63.3 years old, and all patients were treated from January 2004 to December 2009 or from January 2010 to August 2014. While 79.4% of patients underwent angiography-guided PCI, the rest of the cohort underwent IVUS-guided PCI.
IVUS-guided PCI, the team reported, was linked to a lower risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) after one year and beyond. The value of IVUS-guided PCI was especially significant in patients with chronic kidney disease or those who were undergoing PCI for left main disease.
The study did have certain limitations. For instance, it was a retrospective analysis, and future randomized controlled studies are still necessary to confirm these findings. Also, the team did not include a specific protocol for IVUS-guided PCI, so individual operator experience could have played a role.
Overall, however, these findings still suggest that IVUS-guided PCI offers clinicians a safe, effective treatment option that could make a valuable impact for years to come.
“The use of IVUS in PCI should be considered for patients with AMI,” the authors wrote.
Click here to read the full analysis.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.