Pretreatment with intracoronary adenosine reduces the incidence of myonecrosis after non-urgent percutaneous coronary intervention: a prospective randomized study

Aims We sought to investigate the effect of adenosine pretreatment on the incidence of myonecrosis after non-urgent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods and results This was a prospective, randomized, open-label study. Patients who were scheduled for non-urgent PCI in de novo native coronary arteries were eligible. All patients were pretreated with aspirin and clopidogrel. Myonecrosis was measured by creatine kinase-myocardial band (CK-MB) elevation after PCI. A total of 62 patients were randomized into the adenosine (n = 31) or standard (n = 31) group. The adenosine group received 50 µg adenosine bolus before wiring of each lesion, whereas the standard group did not. Post-PCI myonecrosis occurred more frequently in the standard group (39 vs. 13%, OR 0.23, 95% CI 0.05-0.95, P = 0.020). After adjustment for drug-eluting stent implantation, multi-vessel stenting, and elevated baseline troponin, the OR was 0.19 (95% CI 0.05-0.72, P = 0.017). The median peak values of CK-MB in the adenosine and standard groups were 2 and 4 µg/L, respectively (P = 0.033). The adjusted difference was 1.95 µg/L (95% CI 0.13-3.77, P = 0.037). The incidences of myocardial infarction (>3 × CK-MB) were 6 and 16% in the adenosine and standard groups, respectively (OR 0.36; 95% CI 0.03-2.46, P = 0.229). Conclusion Pretreatment with 50 µg of adenosine decreases the incidence of myonecrosis after non-urgent PCI compared with that without pretreatment.