Quantitative evaluation of myocardial blush to assess tissue level reperfusion in patients with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction: incremental prognostic value compared with visual assessment.

Background: Tissue level reperfusion gauges functional recovery in acute ischemic syndromes. However, its current clinical assessment is based upon visual interpretation of myocardial blush grade (MBG), which is operator dependent. The purpose of the study was to test whether quantification of MBG can enhance the predictive value of visual assessment for functional recovery in patients with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).