MedicalResearch.com Interview with: JAY H. Traverse, MD, FACC, FAHA Director of Research Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation Associate Professor of Medicine Cardiovascular Division University of Minnesota School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Reperfusion injury may contribute a significant amount to final infarct size in setting of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Several studies from Europe and Asia have suggested that modifying reperfusion with an angioplasty balloon of an occluded artery called postconditioning can reduce infarct size. However, not all studies show a benefit. We hypothesized that patient selection of STEMI patients could contribute to these inconsistent findings so we performed the first postconditioning study in the US sponsored by the NIH using the strictest enrollment criteria of any study to minimize factors that influence infarct size (ischemic time, collaterals, pre-infarction angina, TIMI 0 flow) designed to maximize the benefit of postconditioning to see if it can actually reduce infarct size. (more…)