Results of the MUSTELA Trial Reported at TCT 2011 

San Francisco, CA --Coronary thrombectomy in conjunction with percutaneous coronary intervention improved the rates of ST-segment elevation resolution, when compared to a control group but did not show large differences in reduction of infarct size.

Results of the MUSTELA (A Prospective, Randomized Trial of Thrombectomy vs. no Thrombectomy in Patients with ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction and Thrombus-Rich Lesions) trial were presented today at the 23^rd annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium, sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation.

Thrombectomy is the removal of a blood clot, or thrombus. The primary purpose of the MUSTELA trial is to determine whether coronary thrombectomy as an adjunct to primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) in patients with high thrombotic burden improves myocardial perfusion and reduces infarct size as assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

In this multicenter prospective trial researchers randomized 208 consecutive patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction, pain-to-balloon-time <12 hours, and angiographic evidence of high thrombotic burden (thrombus grade ≥3), to either standard PPCI (Group A) or PPCI with thrombectomy (Group B) in a 1:1 ratio.

The primary endpoints were infarct size at three months (assessed with delayed-enhancement MRI) and ST-segment elevation resolution greater than 70% at 60 minutes after primary PCI.

ST-segment elevation resolution of greater than 70% occurred in 37.3% of the control group and  57.4% of the thrombectomy group.

Infarct size (IS) was reduced 19.3% in the control group and 20.4% in the thrombectomy group. A further analysis showed presence of myocardial vascular obstruction (MVO) in the control group together with less dysomogeneus scar (islands of viable myocardium inside the IS.)

Both thrombectomy systems showed to be feasible with a slit advantage of the reolitic one.

“There were no coronary complications associated with thrombectomy,” said Anna Sonia Petronio, MD, the lead investigator of the trial. Dr. Petronio is an Associate Professor and Head of the Cath Lab in the Cardiothoracic and Vascular Department at the University of Pisa in Italy.

The MUSTELA trial is partially funded by Medrad. Dr. Petronio reported no financial relationship with the company.

About CRF and TCT

The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) is an independent, academically focused nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the survival and quality of life for people with cardiovascular disease through research and education. Since its inception in 1991, CRF has played a major role in realizing dramatic improvements in the lives of countless numbers of patients by establishing the safe use of new technologies, drugs and therapies in interventional cardiovascular medicine.

Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) is the annual scientific symposium of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation. TCT gathers leading medical researchers and clinicians from around the world to present and discuss the latest developments in the field.

Source: Cardiovascular Research Foundation