Initial culprit-only versus initial multivessel percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction: results from the Ibaraki Cardiovascular Assessment Study registry

We investigated clinical outcomes in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and multivessel coronary artery disease (CAD) treated for initial culprit-only or by initial simultaneous treatment of nonculprit lesion with culprit lesion. Optimal management of multivessel disease in STEMI patients treated by primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is still unclear in the drug-eluting stent era. We compared clinical outcomes of 274 STEMI patients (69.3 +/- 11.8 years, 77 % men) in the Ibaraki Cardiovascular Assessment Study registry who underwent initial culprit-only (OCL, n = 220) or initial multivessel PCI of nonculprit lesion with culprit lesion (NCL, n = 54) from April 2007 to August 2010. Major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) included all-cause death, myocardial infarction (MI), target-vessel revascularization (TVR), and cerebrovascular accident (CVA). Patients in the NCL group were older and had higher Killip class and lower estimated glomerular filtration rate than those in the OCL group. MI, TVR, CVA, and stent thrombosis were not significantly different between the two groups. Incidences of all-cause death and MACCE were lower in the OCL than in the NCL group (all-cause death: 10.9 % vs 31.5 %, P < 0.05; MACCE: 27.7 % vs 46.2 %, P < 0.05). After adjusting for patient characteristics, NCL remained at significantly higher risk compared with OCL for in-hospital and all-cause death (P = 0.001, respectively), and MACCE were not significantly different (odds ratio 1.95, 95 % confidence interval 0.94-4.08; P = 0.07) between groups. Initial multivessel PCI was associated with significantly increased risk of in-hospital death, all-cause death, and MACCE, which was somewhat attenuated in a multivariable model, but the numerically excessive risk with NCL still persisted.