Patients with ischaemic cardiomyopathy continue to have high rates of mortality and hospitalisation for heart failure even with contemporary medical and device therapy. Previously, the STICH trial has shown that revascularisation can improve the 10-year outcomes in this vulnerable patient population1. The REVIVED-BCIS2 trial (n=700; NCT01920048) sought to conclusively define the added value of PCI (n=353) over optimal medical therapy (n=353) in the first randomised trial in this population. The results were presented by Prof. Divaka Perera (Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK) and were simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine2,3.
The primary composite endpoint of all-cause death or heart failure hospitalisation was not met; 37.2% of the PCI group experienced a primary endpoint event compared with 38% of the group on optimal medical treatment (HR 0.99; 95% CI 0.78–1.27; P=0.96), over a median of 3.4 years of follow-up. The treatment effect was consistent across all subgroups. There were also no significant differences in LVEF at 6 and 12 months.
Quality-of-life scores favoured PCI at the 6-month and 12-month timepoints, but the curves crossed over time with medical therapy, and this advantage disappeared by 2 years, indicating that this benefit was not sustained.