Background: Intravenous nicorandil, a hybrid compound of ATP-sensitive potassium channel opener and nitric oxide donor, has been reported to ameliorate early functional and clinical problems in patients with acute myocardial infarction. However, its effects on the late phase remain unclear.
Methods and results: This follow-up study to 5 years of a randomized, double-blinded trial was conducted among 368 patients with first ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). They were randomly assigned to receive 12 mg of nicorandil or a placebo intravenously just before reperfusion. We analyzed incidence of cardiovascular death or rehospitalization for congestive heart failure after PCI as well as various aspects of epicardial flow and microvascular function. Mean follow-up was 2.4 years (SD, 1.4). A total of 12 (6.5%) patients receiving nicorandil and 30 (16.4%) receiving placebo had cardiovascular death or hospital admission for congestive heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.39; 95% CI, 0.20 to 0.76; P=0.0058). Postprocedural TIMI 3 flow was obtained in 89.7% of the nicorandil group and in 81.4% of the placebo (hazard ratio, 1.99; 95% CI, 1.09 to 3.65; P=0.025). Corrected TIMI frame count was furthermore lower in the nicorandil group (21.0+/-9.1 versus 25.1+/-14.1; P=0.0009). ST-segment resolution >50% was observed in 79.5% and 61.2% of the nicorandil and placebo groups, respectively (hazard ratio, 2.45; 95% CI, 1.54 to 3.90; P=0.0002).
Conclusions: The addition of intravenous nicorandil to PCI leads to beneficial clinical outcomes and prevents cardiovascular events of long duration and death in patients with ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction.