The safety and effectiveness of rescue percutaneous coronary intervention for failed thrombolysis in older population

Abstract

In their recently published article, Alp and coworkers aimed to determine whether rescue percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was safe and effective in an older population, by evaluating the primary and secondary clinical outcomes among the 105 patients ≥70 years of age in the REACT trial [ [1] Alp N.J. Gershlick A.H. Carver A. Stevens S.E. Wilcox R. Rescue angioplasty for failed thrombolysis in older patients: insights from the REACT trial. Int J Cardiol. 2008; 125: 254-257https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcard.2007.03.107 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (10) Google Scholar ]. In that study, the authors demonstrated that the relative benefit of rescue angioplasty versus repeat thrombolysis or conservative treatment was maintained, and the absolute benefit actually increased in this older age group compared with the study population as a whole. There was no adverse impact of advanced age on bleeding complications. Repeat thrombolysis was no more effective than conservative therapy. They concluded that rescue angioplasty is the preferred management strategy for failed thrombolysis, even for patients ≥70 years of age.