Excimer laser coronary angioplasty versus manual aspiration thrombectomy in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction: analyzed by nuclear scintigraphy

Clinical outcomes concerning the efficacy of excimer laser coronary angioplasty (ELCA) in real-world cases of acute myocardial infarction (MI) are limited. We evaluated and compared the impact of ELCA with manual aspiration thrombectomy on myocardial salvage and left ventricular (LV) systolic/diastolic function in patients with ST-segment elevation MI (STEMI) using nuclear scintigraphy. We enrolled 143 consecutive patients with STEMI treated with ELCA (63 patients) or manual aspiration thrombectomy (80 patients) between September 2016 and December 2020 in a single-center hospital. We evaluated the peak creatine kinase (CK)/ creatine kinase-myocardial band (CK-MB) levels and performed single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) analyses with Quantitative Gated SPECT and Quantitative Perfusion SPECT (Auto QUANT 7.2) at 3–10 days using 123 I-BMIPP and 3 months following percutaneous coronary intervention using 99m Tc-tetrofosmin to evaluate myocardial salvage and LV systolic/diastolic function. No significant difference was observed in the patient and periprocedural characteristics. Peak CK-MB level was significantly different between the groups (ELCA group, 190.0 [70.5–342.0] IU/L vs. aspiration group, 256.5 [157.0–354.8] IU/L, p = 0.047). Although no significant difference was observed in myocardial salvage, significant improvement in the LV ejection fraction (14.1 [6.2–19.8]% vs. 9.5 [3.9–15.3]%, respectively, p = 0.018) and peak emptying rate (-0.54 [-1.02– (-0.27)] mL/s vs. -0.38 [-0.76– (-0.05)] mL/s, respectively, p = 0.017) were detected. ELCA could suppress the myocardial deviation enzymes and potentially improve systolic function compared to manual aspiration thrombectomy in patients with STEMI.