Angiographic no-reflow phenomenon as a predictor of adverse long-term outcome in patients treated with percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty for first acute myocardial infarction

Abstract OBJECTIVES We sought to elucidate the long-term prognostic importance of angiographic no-reflow phenomenon after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). BACKGROUND Angiographic no-reflow phenomenon, a reduced coronary antegrade flow (Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction [TIMI] flow grade ≤2) without mechanical obstruction after recanalization, predicts poor left ventricular (LV) functional recovery and survival in the early phase of AMI. We hypothesized that angiographic no-reflow phenomenon also predicts long-term clinical outcome. METHODS We studied 120 consecutive patients with their first AMI treated by PTCA without flow-restricting lesions. The patients were classified as either no-reflow (n = 30) or reflow (TIMI-3) (n = 90) based on post-PTCA cineangiograms to follow up (5.8 ± 1.2 years) for cardiac death and nonfatal events. RESULTS Patients with no-reflow had congestive heart failure (p CONCLUSIONS Angiographic no-reflow phenomenon strongly predicts long-term cardiac complications after AMI; these complications are possibly associated with LV remodeling.