Effects of tirofiban on the recovery of coronary flow and the left ventricular function and the incidence of cardiovascular events after percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with acute myocardial infarction

Objective To investigate the effects of tirofiban on recovery of coronary flow and the function of left ventricle and the incidence of cardiovascular events after percutaneous coronary intervention(PCI) in patients with acute myocardial infarction(AMI). Methods In 110 patients who were diagnosed as AMI from Feb 2005 to Apr 2007 in our hospital, 80 patients with coronary artery TIMI blood flow 0~1 grade and underwent emergency PCI, were divided into study group(tirofiban + PCI group, n=40) and control group(PCI group, n=40). The basic clinical information and angiographic characteristics before and after PCI were collected and studied. The parameters of left ventricular function(LVEF) were determined with 2d-echocardiograph 7 days after PCI. The in-hospital cardiovascular events occurred were assessed. Results There was no significant difference between the two groups in basic clinical or angiographic characteristics before PCI(P 0.05), 95.0% of patients in the study group were recovered with TIMI 3 grade flow and 5.0% of patients were just recovered with TIMI 0 ～ 2 grade flow. In the control group 75.0% of patients were restored TIMI 3 grade flow and 25.0% of patients were just recovered with TIMI 0 ～ 2 grade flow. The difference was found to be statistically significant (P 0.05). There was a lower incidence of in-hospital cardiovascular events (reinfarction, mortality and recurrent agina) in the study group than that in the control group (P 0.05). The LVEF was significantly higher in the patients of study group than that in the control group during in-hospital. Conclusion Tirofiban may improve TIMI flow of the IRA in patients with STEMI during emergency PCI, furtherly it has positive effect on the LVEF and lowers the incidence of cardiovascular events in these patients.