Early versus delayed invasive intervention in acute coronary syndromes.
BACKGROUND
Earlier trials have shown that a routine invasive strategy improves outcomes in patients with acute coronary syndromes without ST-segment elevation. However, the optimal timing of such intervention remains uncertain.


METHODS
We randomly assigned 3031 patients with acute coronary syndromes to undergo either routine early intervention (coronary angiography < or = 24 hours after randomization) or delayed intervention (coronary angiography > or = 36 hours after randomization). The primary outcome was a composite of death, myocardial infarction, or stroke at 6 months. A prespecified secondary outcome was death, myocardial infarction, or refractory ischemia at 6 months.


RESULTS
Coronary angiography was performed in 97.6% of patients in the early-intervention group (median time, 14 hours) and in 95.7% of patients in the delayed-intervention group (median time, 50 hours). At 6 months, the primary outcome occurred in 9.6% of patients in the early-intervention group, as compared with 11.3% in the delayed-intervention group (hazard ratio in the early-intervention group, 0.85; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.68 to 1.06; P=0.15). There was a relative reduction of 28% in the secondary outcome of death, myocardial infarction, or refractory ischemia in the early-intervention group (9.5%), as compared with the delayed-intervention group (12.9%) (hazard ratio, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.58 to 0.89; P=0.003). Prespecified analyses showed that early intervention improved the primary outcome in the third of patients who were at highest risk (hazard ratio, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.48 to 0.89) but not in the two thirds at low-to-intermediate risk (hazard ratio, 1.12; 95% CI, 0.81 to 1.56; P=0.01 for heterogeneity).


CONCLUSIONS
Early intervention did not differ greatly from delayed intervention in preventing the primary outcome, but it did reduce the rate of the composite secondary outcome of death, myocardial infarction, or refractory ischemia and was superior to delayed intervention in high-risk patients. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00552513.)
Mehta
Shamir R
SR
Population Health Research Institute, McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, ON, Canada. smehta@mcmaster.ca
Granger
Christopher B
CB
Boden
William E
WE
Steg
Philippe Gabriel
PG
Bassand
Jean-Pierre
JP
Faxon
David P
DP
Afzal
Rizwan
R
Chrolavicius
Susan
S
Jolly
Sanjit S
SS
Widimsky
Petr
P
Avezum
Alvaro
A
Rupprecht
Hans-Jurgen
HJ
Zhu
Jun
J
Col
Jacques
J
Natarajan
Madhu K
MK
Horsman
Craig
C
Fox
Keith A A
KA
Yusuf
Salim
S
D054058:Acute Coronary Syndrome / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D000368:Aged; D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000628:therapy; D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D012306:Risk; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D013997:Time Factors