Targeting Myocardial Reperfusion Injury — The Search Continues

Abstract

Timely reperfusion by means of primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is the most effective therapy for limiting myocardial infarct size in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Although mortality in this patient population is falling, the number of patients in whom heart failure develops is increasing. As such, new treatments are needed to reduce myocardial infarct size and to preserve left ventricular function, so as to prevent the onset of heart failure.One neglected therapeutic target is myocardial reperfusion injury, the term given to the cardiomyocyte death that paradoxically results from reperfusion of ischemic myocardium.¹ This phenomenon is mediated, . . .