ESC 08-Munich Germany: The SYNergy between percutaneous coronary intervention with TAXus and cardiac surgery (SYNTAX) study failed to show that PCI is non inferior to CABG treatment in patients with left main or 3-vessel coronary artery disease. The findings were presented by Dr. Friedrich Mohr of Germany and Dr. Patrick Serruys of the Netherlands at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2008 in Munich.

A new preliminary French study suggests the beneficial effect of cyclosporine in reducing reperfusion injury and infarct size during PCI following acute myocardial infarction. Reperfusion injury following acute myocardial infarction can result in detrimental effects such as ventricular arrhythmias myocardial stunning and microvascular dysfunction. The opening of mitochondrial permeability-transition pore during reperfusion results in various metabolic alterations that ultimately cause cardiac cell death.