Impact of Renal Insufficiency in Patients Undergoing Primary Angioplasty for Acute Myocardial Infarction

Background - The prognostic importance of renal insufficiency (RI) in patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has not been well characterized. Methods and Results - PCI was performed in 2082 AMI patients without shock presenting within 12 hours of symptom onset in a prospective, multicenter randomized trial. RI was defined as a calculated (Cockroft-Gault) creatinine clearance (CrCl) ≤60 mL/min. RI at baseline was present in 18% of patients. Compared with patients without RI, patients with RI were older and were more likely to be female; to have hypertension, peripheral vascular disease, or cerebrovascular disease; and to present in heart failure. Mortality was markedly increased in patients with versus without baseline RI both at 30 days (7.5% versus 0.8%, P<0.0001) and at 1 year (12.7% versus 2.4%, P<0.0001). Mortality rates increased incrementally for every 10-mL/min decrease in baseline CrCl. By multivariate analysis, reduced baseline CrCl was a powerful independent predictor of 30-day mortality (hazard ratio, 5.77; P<0.0001) and remained associated with reduced survival at 1 year (hazard ratio, 1.98; P=0.08). Hemorrhagic complications and transfusion requirements were also increased more than 2-fold in patients with RI, as were severe restenosis (diameter stenosis ≥70%; 20.6% versus 11.8%, P=0.024) and infarct artery reocclusion (14.7% versus 7.3%, P=0.02). Conclusions - Baseline RI in patients with AMI undergoing primary PCI is associated with a markedly increased risk of mortality, as well as bleeding and restenosis. Novel approaches are needed to improve the otherwise poor prognosis of patients with RI and AMI.