Increased survival after APSAC: 30-day and 12-month mortality data from the APSAC Intervention Mortality Study

Preliminary analysis of mortality data from the anisoylated plasminogen streptokinase activator complex (APSAC) Intervention Mortality Study (AIMS) showed a 47% reduction in 30-day mortality (with a 95% confidence interval of 21 to 65%) for patients treated with APSAC within 6 hours of onset of acute myocardial infarction. After follow-up of 1,004 patients for 30 days after randomization in the double-blind, placebo-controlled, clinical trial, researchers found that 61 patients (12.2%) in the placebo group had died compared with 32 patients (6.4%) in the APSAC group (p = 0.0016). Incomplete follow-up of these patients for 1 year provided an estimated mortality of 19.4% in the placebo group and 10.8% in the APSAC group (log-rank test for survival to year p = 0.0006). Benefit was seen irrespective of age, site of infarction and time from onset of symptoms up to 6 hours.