The purpose of this study is to determine whether opening an occluded infarcted artery 3-28 days after an acute myocardial infarction in high-risk asymptomatic patients reduces the composite endpoint of mortality, recurrent myocardial infarction, and hospitalization for class IV congestive heart failure over a three year follow-up.

BACKGROUND:

The benefits of establishing early coronary reperfusion in acute myocardial infarction (MI) have now been unequivocally established. However, current pharmacologic strategies fail to achieve effective reperfusion in 30 percent or more of patients, and many patients with occluded infarct arteries do not meet current criteria for use of these agents. Early angioplasty, an effective reperfusion method, is available to a small proportion of potentially eligible US acute MI patients. Hence a substantial number of acute MI patients pass the time when reperfusion therapy has any documented benefit (12 - 24 hours) with a persistently closed infarct vessel. Several lines of experimental and clinical evidence suggest that late reperfusion of these patients could provide clinically significant reductions in mortality and morbidity.

DESIGN NARRATIVE:

Multicenter, randomized, controlled. Patients at approximately 320 clinical sites in the United States and Canada are randomly allocated to two treatment arms over two years. One treatment consists of conventional medical management including aspirin, beta blockers, angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, and risk factor modification. The other treatment consists of conventional medical therapy plus percutaneous coronary intervention and coronary stenting. Clinical outcomes will be compared using an intention-to-treat analysis. The primary composite endpoint is mortality, recurrent myocardial infarction, and hospitalization for NYHA Class IV congestive heart failure over a three year follow-up. Individual components of the study composite primary endpoint will be compared in the two treatment arms, as will the medical costs of the two treatments and the health-related quality of life. The cost-effectiveness of percutaneous revascularization will be assessed in the study population.

• Cardiovascular Diseases
• Heart Diseases
• Myocardial Infarction
• Heart Failure, Congestive
• Heart Failure

• Drug: Beta adrenergic blockers
• Drug: Platelet inhibitors
• Procedure: PTCA and stents
• Drug: ACE Inhibitors

• Active Comparator: Conventional medical management, including aspirin, beta blockers, angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, and risk factor modification
• Experimental: Conventional medical management, including aspirin, beta blockers, angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, and risk factor modification, plus percutaneous coronary intervention and coronary stenting

• Hochman JS, Lamas GA, Knatterud GL, Buller CE, Dzavik V, Mark DB, Reynolds HR, White HD; Occluded Artery Trial Research Group. Design and methodology of the Occluded Artery Trial (OAT). Am Heart J. 2005 Oct;150(4):627-42.
• Mark DB, Pan W, Clapp-Channing NE, Anstrom KJ, Ross JR, Fox RS, Devlin GP, Martin CE, Adlbrecht C, Cowper PA, Ray LD, Cohen EA, Lamas GA, Hochman JS; Occluded Artery Trial Investigators. Quality of life after late invasive therapy for occluded arteries. N Engl J Med. 2009 Feb 19;360(8):774-83.
• Kruk M, Kadziela J, Reynolds HR, Forman SA, Sadowski Z, Barton BA, Mark DB, Maggioni AP, Leor J, Webb JG, Kapeliovich M, Marin-Neto JA, White HD, Lamas GA, Hochman JS. Predictors of outcome and the lack of effect of percutaneous coronary intervention across the risk strata in patients with persistent total occlusion after myocardial infarction: Results from the OAT (Occluded Artery Trial) study. JACC Cardiovasc Interv. 2008 Oct;1(5):511-20.
• Hochman JS, Lamas GA, Buller CE, Dzavik V, Reynolds HR, Abramsky SJ, Forman S, Ruzyllo W, Maggioni AP, White H, Sadowski Z, Carvalho AC, Rankin JM, Renkin JP, Steg PG, Mascette AM, Sopko G, Pfisterer ME, Leor J, Fridrich V, Mark DB, Knatterud GL; Occluded Artery Trial Investigators. Coronary intervention for persistent occlusion after myocardial infarction. N Engl J Med. 2006 Dec 7;355(23):2395-407. Epub 2006 Nov 14.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Participants will be enrolled 3-28 days after an acute myocardial infarction