Comparison of Invasive and Conservative Strategies after Treatment with Intravenous Tissue Plasminogen Activator in Acute Myocardial Infarction

Abstract

We treated 3262 patients with intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) within four hours of the onset of chest pain thought to be caused by myocardial infarction. Of these patients, 1636 were then randomly assigned to treatment according to an invasive strategy consisting of coronary arteriography 18 to 48 hours after the administration of rt-PA, followed by prophylactic percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) if arteriography demonstrated suitable anatomy; 1626 patients were randomly assigned to treatment according to a conservative strategy, as part of which arteriography and PTCA were to be performed only in patients with spontaneous or exercise-induced ischemia.