Abstract Body (Do not enter title and authors here): Background
Fractional flow reserve (FFR) guided complete revascularization (CR) is an approach that can be used to improve clinical outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI) and multivessel disease (MVD). The objective of the present meta-analysis was to investigate whether FFR-guided CR leads to better cardiovascular outcomes as compared to culprit-only revascularization (COR) in acute MI and MVD by pooling recently published data.
Methods
A comprehensive literature search was conducted using PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Library from inception until April 2024 to retrieve eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Clinical outcomes were assessed using the random-effects model by pooling risk ratios (RRs) along with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). We assessed the quality of evidence using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology.
Results
Four RCTs were pooled with 3,175 patients. FFR-guided CR significantly reduced the risk of repeat revascularization as compared to COR (RR = 0.52; 95% CI: 0.33-0.81, p = 0.004) [absolute risk difference 83 fewer per 1,000 patients (95% confidence interval: 116 to 33 fewer) moderate certainty]. Though there was a reduction in the risk of MACE with FFR-guided CR (RR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.44-1.04, p = 0.08; moderate certainty), it didn't attain statistical significance. Clinical outcomes such as all-cause death (RR = 1.10, 95% CI: 0.84-1.45, p = 0.48; moderate certainty), cardiac death (RR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.53-1.17, p = 0.24; high certainty), risk of MI (RR = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.54-1.66, p = 0.84; moderate certainty) and major bleeding (RR = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.54-1.67, p = 0.87; moderate certainty) were comparable between the two groups.
Conclusion
FFR-guided CR in patients with MI and MVD can lead to a decreased risk of repeat revascularizations while not affecting all-cause and cardiac deaths.