Long-Term Benefit of Primary Angioplasty as Compared with Thrombolytic Therapy for Acute Myocardial Infarction

Abstract

As compared with thrombolytic therapy, primary coronary angioplasty results in a higher rate of patency of the infarct-related coronary artery, lower rates of stroke and reinfarction, and higher in-hospital or 30-day survival rates. However, the comparative long-term efficacy of these two approaches has not been carefully studied.