Immediate and long-term results of the splinting for acute closure trial

The ability of coronary splinting to salvage acute coronary occlusion was prospectively studied in 22 patients whose coronary occlusion was refractory to a 15-min balloon dilatation. Splinting was successful in 20 patients (91%). One patient required emergency bypass surgery, and one patient was treated medically for continued coronary occlusion. There was no late ischemic events. The peak CK was 1081 +/- 733 U/L and 1,451 +/- 1,646 U/L for the study and control patients (P = NS). The peak CK-MB was 110 +/- 102 mg/dl and 78 +/- 84 mg/dl, respectively (P = NS). There were no differences in electrocardiographic changes or Q-wave myocardial infarction between the groups. At 6-month follow-up, one patient required coronary artery bypass graft surgery. There were no late myocardial infarctions or deaths.