Comparison of combination therapy of adenosine and nitroprusside with adenosine alone in the treatment of angiographic no-reflow phenomenon.

We sought to compare the combination therapy of adenosine and nitroprusside in no-reflow phenomenon during percutaneous coronary intervention. Improvement in coronary flow from no-reflow to postdrug state was evaluated. Patients who received adenosine (n = 21) were compared to ones who received the combination of adenosine and nitroprusside (n = 20) for treatment. Improvement of TIMI flow grades was higher in the group that received combined therapy (1.5 +/- 1.0 vs. 0.8 +/- 0.6; P < 0.05). Combination therapy of adenosine and nitroprusside is safe and provides better improvement in coronary flow compared to intracoronary adenosine alone in case of impaired flow during coronary interventions. Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.