TCT In Brief

PREPARE: St. Jude Medical's Proxis embolic protection device helps to resolve ST-segment elevation faster in patients with ST-elevated myocardial infarction, according to results of the 280-patient Prospective Randomized Trial of Proximal Microcirculatory Protection in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction Undergoing Primary PCI (PREPARE) trial, presented at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics scientific symposium on Oct. 15 by Karel Koch, University of Amsterdam. ST elevation refers to the electrocardiographic signal associated with impending infarction. In PREPARE, ST-elevation was immediately resolved in 66% of the patients randomized to percutaneous coronary intervention with embolic protection from Proxis, compared to 50% of patients treated with PCI without embolic protection. After 30 minutes, 75% of Proxis patients and 66% of control patients were out of ST-elevation. There were no complications with Proxis, which was 510(k)-cleared in 2003