Mechanical Complications in ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) Based on Different Reperfusion Strategies

Contemporary trends of mechanical complications like papillary muscle rupture (PMR), ventricular septal defect/rupture (VSR), and free wall rupture (FWR) in ST-elevation m'yocardial infarction (STEMI), especially in the era of primary percutaneous coronary interventions (PPCI) has not been definitively investigated. We utilized the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database from years 2003 to 2017 using International Classification of Disease 9th and 10th revision (ICD-9 and ICD-10) codes to identify STEMI patients undergoing PPCI, fibrinolysis alone, and fibrinolysis with subsequent PCI. We identified those developing in-hospital PMR /VSD / FWR. We identified a total of 2,034,153 STEMI patients where 93.5% had PPCI, 3.2% had fibrinolysis alone, and 3.3% had fibrinolysis with subsequent PCI. Rates of all mechanical complications was low for all three different reperfusion strategies evaluated, with downward trends (p <0.05) over time. No statistically significant difference in the rates of mechanical complication was noted among patients treated with different reperfusion strategies on multivariable logistic regression models. In conclusion, in a contemporary cohort of US patients-majority of whom were managed with PPCI, the rates of overall mechanical complications after STEMI were low even with initial use of fibrinolytics and exhibited a downward temporal trend.