Prevalence, clinical determinants and prognostic implications of coronary procedural complications of percutaneous coronary intervention in non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction: Insights from the contemporary multinational TAO trial.

Summary Background Few data are available on procedural complications of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in the setting of acute coronary syndrome in the contemporary era. Aim We sought to describe the prevalence of procedural complications of PCI in a non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE ACS) cohort, and to identify their clinical characteristics and association with clinical outcomes. Methods Patients randomized in TAO (Treatment of Acute coronary syndrome with Otamixaban), an international randomized controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01076764 ) that compared otamixaban with unfractionated heparin plus eptifibatide in patients with NSTE ACS who underwent PCI, were included in the analysis. Procedural complications were collected prospectively, categorized and adjudicated by a blinded Clinical Events Committee, with review of angiograms. A multivariable model was constructed to identify independent clinical characteristics associated with procedural complications. Results A total of 8656 patients with NSTE ACS who were enrolled in the TAO trial underwent PCI, and 451 (5.2%) experienced at least one complication. The most frequent complications were no/slow reflow (1.5%) and dissection with decreased flow (1.2%). Procedural complications were associated with the 7-day ischaemic outcome of death, myocardial infarction or stroke (24.2% vs. 6.0%, odds ratio 5.01, 95% confidence interval 3.96–6.33; P  Conclusions In a contemporary NSTE ACS population, procedural complications with PCI remain frequent, are difficult to predict based on clinical characteristics, and are associated with worse ischaemic and haemorrhagic outcomes.