Abbreviated Infusion of Eptifibatide After Successful Coronary Intervention : The BRIEF-PCI (Brief Infusion of Eptifibatide Following Percutaneous Coronary Intervention) Randomized Trial

The purpose of this study was to assess whether the early discontinuation of eptifibatide infusion in nonemergent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is associated with a higher frequency of periprocedural ischemic myonecrosis. The recommended regimen for eptifibatide is a double bolus followed by an infusion for 18 h. It is not known whether the infusion can be shortened if the PCI is uncomplicated. We enrolled 624 patients with stable angina, acute coronary syndrome, or recent ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (>48 h) who underwent successful coronary stenting and received eptifibatide. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either an 18-h infusion or an abbreviated infusion of 0.26 microg/l. Secondary end points included death, myocardial infarction, urgent target vessel revascularization at 30 days, and in-hospital major bleeding using the REPLACE-2 (Randomized Evaluation in PCI Linking Angiomax to Reduced Clinical Events) trial criteria. The incidence of periprocedural myonecrosis was 30.1% in the