Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors in acute myocardial infarction and angiographic microvascular obstruction: the REVERSE-FLOW trial.

Background And Aims: Glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa inhibitors are recommended in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) for bailout treatment in case of angiographic microvascular obstruction (MVO), also termed no-reflow phenomenon, after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with, however, lacking evidence (class IIa, level C).

Methods: The investigator-initiated, international, multicentre REVERSE-FLOW trial randomized 120 patients with AMI and thrombolysis in myocardial infarction flow grade ≤ 2 after primary PCI to optimal medical therapy with or without GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor. The primary endpoint was infarct size [percentage of left ventricular (LV) mass assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR). Secondary endpoints included CMR-derived MVO and 30-day adverse clinical events. The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02739711.

Results: The population was predominantly male (76.7%) with a median age of 66 years and ST-elevation myocardial infarction in 73.3% of patients. Clinical and angiographic characteristics were well balanced between the cohorts. Patients in the treatment group (n = 62) received eptifibatide (n = 41) or tirofiban (n = 21). Infarct size assessed by CMR imaging was similar in both study groups [25.4% of LV mass (%LV) vs. 25.2%LV; P = .386]. However, the number of patients with evidence of CMR-derived MVO (74.5% vs. 92.2%; P = .017) and the extent of MVO (2.1%LV vs. 3.4%LV; P = .025) were significantly reduced in the GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor group compared with controls. Thirty-day outcome showed an increased bleeding risk after GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor administration restricted to non-life-threatening bleedings (22.6% vs. 6.9%; P = .016) without differences in all-cause mortality (4.8% vs. 3.4%; P = .703).

Conclusions: Bailout GP IIb/IIIa inhibition in AMI patients with angiographic MVO failed to reduce the primary endpoint infarct size but decreased CMR-derived MVO and led to an increase in non-fatal bleeding events.