Impact of early perfusion status of the infarct-related artery on short-term mortality after thrombolysis for acute myocardial infarction: Retrospective analysis of four german multicenter studies

Objective. This study evaluated the impact of early patency of the infarct-related vessel on short-term mortality after thrombolysis for acute myocardial infarction. Background. Different thrombolytic regimens for acute myocardial infarction proved to be equally effective in large scale mortality trials despite significant differences in their efficacy with respect to early infarct-related vessel patency as shown in smaller angiographic trials. Methods. Patients from four German multicenter studies of thrombolysis in acute myocardial infarction were retrospectively evaluated. Of 939 patients with acute myocardial infarction (duration of symptoms