Rescue angioplasty for failed thrombolysis in older patients: Insights from the REACT trial

Comparison of one-year outcome of patients aged <75 years versus ≥75 years undergoing "rescue" percutaneous coronary intervention

The influence of age on the clinical results after rescue angioplasty (percutaneous coronary intervention [PCI]) has been poorly investigated. In the present study, we evaluated the outcome of 514 consecutive patients undergoing rescue PCI who were divided into 2 groups according to age: <75 years (n = 469) and ≥75 years (n = 45). The primary end point of the study was the incidence of death at 1 year of follow-up. The secondary end point was the 1-year incidence of major cardiac adverse events (MACE) defined as a composite of death, recurrent acute myocardial infarction, and target vessel revascularization. The predictors of death and MACE at 1 year were also investigated. At 1 year of follow-up, the <75-year-old group had a significantly lower incidence of death (7% vs 24%, p = 0.0001) and MACE (14% vs 28%, p = 0.01) compared to the ≥75-year-old group. The Cox proportional hazards model identified age (adjusted hazard ratio 0.2665, 95% confidence interval 0.1285 to 0.5524, p = 0.0004), cardiogenic shock (hazard ratio 0.1057, 95% confidence interval 0.0528 to 0.2117, p <0.000001), Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction flow grade 2 to 3 after PCI versus 0 to 1 (hazard ratio 3.8380, 95% confidence interval 1.7781 to 8.2843, p = 0.0006), multi- versus single-vessel disease (hazard ratio 0.3716, 95% confidence interval 0.1896 to 0.7284, p = 0.0039) as independent predictors of survival at 1 year of follow-up. In conclusion, at 1 year of follow-up after rescue PCI, the patients aged ≥75 years had a greater incidence of death and MACE compared to patients aged <75 years. Age, cardiogenic shock, Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction flow grade 0-1 after PCI, and multivessel coronary disease were predictors of survival and freedom from MACE at 1 year of follow-up.