Angiographically documented late reocclusion after successful coronary angioplasty of an infarct-related lesion is a powerful predictor of long-term mortality

Background-Late reocclusion of an infarct-related artery (IRA) that was patent in the early days after acute myocardial infarction (MI) is a frequent event; the reocclusion rate may be as high as 30%. Few studies have been designed to analyze the impact of late reocclusion of the IRA on late survival. Methods and Results-We studied 528 patients who all had a patent IRA after a successful PTCA procedure 10 +/- 6 days after MI and who underwent systematic 6-month angiographic follow-up to assess late patency of the IRA. We compared long-term survival of patients with and without late reocclusion, Based on the results of 6-month follow-up angiography, 2 groups of patients were defined: (1) 90 patients (17%) with reocclusion (Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction [TIMI] flow 0 or 1) and (2) 438 patients (83%) without reocclusion. Long-term clinical follow-up was obtained for all 528 patients at a median of 5.7 years after follow-up angiography (6.1 years after PTCA). The overall actuarial 8-year total mortality rate was 13%. At the end of follow-up, there were 35 deaths (8%) among the 438 patients without reocclusion and 18 deaths (20%) among the 90 patients with reocclusion (P = 0.002). The actuarial 8-year total mortality rate was 10% in patients without reocclusion and 28% in patients with reocclusion (P = 0.0003). The actuarial cardiovascular mortality rate was 7% in patients without reocclusion and 25% in patients with reocclusion (P < 0.0001), The impact of reocclusion on long-term mortality was greater in patients with anterior MI. Conclusions-Late IRA patency is strongly associated with long-term survival after MI. These observations should encourage prospective studies to evaluate the impact of strategies designed to prevent late reocclusion in postinfarction patients.