Pretransfer Aspirin Administration and Its Impact on Angiographic Outcomes for Patients with ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Abstract

Although guidelines recommend early aspirin administration after diagnosis of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), the decision of pretransfer aspirin administration is at the discretion of the primary physicians. Therefore, this study aimed to determine whether pretransfer aspirin administration was associated with better angiographical outcomes in patients with STEMI. This study compared the angiographic findings of thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) flow grade in the infarct-related artery before percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) between patients who received pretransfer aspirin and those who did not. In total, 28 patients (11.2%) were administered aspirin before transfer and 219 (88.8%) were administered aspirin upon arrival at the hospital. Propensity score matching yielded 135 patients [27 patients (20%) who were administered aspirin before transfer and 108 patients (80%) who were administered aspirin upon arrival at the hospital]. Patients who received pretransfer aspirin had a higher rate of TIMI-3 flow before PCI compared to those who did not receive pretransfer aspirin [8 (28.6%) versus 15 (6.8%), P < 0.01, in all study patients; 8 (26.6%) versus 7 (6.5%), P < 0.01, in propensity-score-matched patients]. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that pretransfer aspirin administration was significantly associated with the presence of TIMI-3 flow before PCI, independent of age, gender, transfer time, and statin use (OR: 5.43, 95% CI: 1.94-15.2, P < 0.01, in all study patients; OR: 6.17, 95% CI: 1.86-20.46, P < 0.01, in propensity-score-matched patients). Pretransfer aspirin administration could lead to the early restoration of coronary blood flow in patients with STEMI, supporting its active use in STEMI care.