Finally, a fourth study found that giving Integrilin for a shorter period of time after non-emergency PCI is both safe and effective.
"The brief and prolonged infusions showed no difference in terms of injury," said study author Dr. Anthony Fung, director of cardiac catheterization labs at Vancouver General Hospital, University of British Columbia, Canada. "We believe that eptifibatide can safely be abbreviated to less than two hours following successful non-emergency PCI without an increase in ischemic endpoints and perhaps with less major bleeding. This regimen is less costly because it only uses 37 percent of the standard dose and potentially can reduce nursing costs and potentially can reduce length of stay in the hospital."
More information
Learn more about PCI at the American Heart Association.
SOURCES: Nov. 4, 2007, news conference with Dan Jones, M.D., president, American Heart Association; Elliott M. Antman, M.D., professor, medicine, Harvard Medical School, and director, Samuel A. Levine Cardiac Unit at Brigham and Womens Hospital, Boston; Uwe Zeymer, Ludwigshafen, Germany; Anthony Fung, M.B.B.S., director, cardiac catheterization labs, Vancouver General Hospital, University of British Columbia, Canada; Nov. 15, 2007, New England Journal of Medicine
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