Benefit of facilitated percutaneous coronary intervention in high-risk ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction patients presenting to nonpercutaneous coronary intervention hospitals.

Objectives: We hypothesized that patients most likely to benefit would be those at high risk with a shorter duration of acute ischemia and who required transfer for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Background: The FINESSE (Facilitated Intervention with Enhanced Reperfusion Speed to Stop Events) study failed to demonstrate an improvement in the 90-day composite clinical end point of early treatment with abciximab plus half-dose reteplase (combination-facilitated PCI) or abciximab alone.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of 2,452 patients in this double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Screening of preformed oxidised low density lipoprotein isolated by a polyanion precipitation method. Its correlation with serum triglyceride levels.

For clinical and epidemiological screening a simple and sensitive methodology was developed for detection of preformed lipid peroxides (LPO) in low density lipoprotein (LDL). For this purpose, the iodometric assay of El-Saadani et al. (J Lipid Res 1989;30:627-30) was adapted to the fraction containing LDL isolated by polyanion precipitation avoiding ultracentrifugation.