Impact of bivalirudin on in-hospital bleeding and six-month outcomes in octogenarians undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to analyze the impact of replacing heparin with bivalirudin in octogenarians undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) on postprocedure hemorrhage and 6-month mortality. BACKGROUND: Randomized trials comparing the antithrombin agent bivalirudin with heparin as the intraprocedural anticoagulant identify a reduction in periprocedural bleeding after PCI. Further, the occurrence of such bleeding seems to predict an increased risk of death or myocardial infarction both in-hospital and at long-term follow-up. Importantly, elderly people who are at the greatest risk of post-PCI bleeding complications are underrepresented in these randomized trials. METHODS: From 2000 to 2007, 2,766 consecutive patients from our center who were > or = 80 years of age underwent PCI with stent implantation and were included in this analysis. Bivalirudin was used in 1,207 (43.6%) patients and heparin in 1,559 (56.4%). We compared the rates of post-PCI bleeding complications and 6-month mortality. RESULTS: The overall in-hospital bleeding and 6-month mortality rates were 4.6% and 11.8%, respectively. By multivariate logistic regression and after adjustment by propensity score analysis, bivalirudin was associated with a significant decrease in in-hospital bleedings (HR = 0.41, 95% CI = 0.23-0.73, P = 0.003). By multivariate Cox analysis, bivalirudin was also associated with a significant decrease (HR = 0.6, 95% CI = 0.4-0.9, P = 0.01) and in-hospital bleedings with a significant increase in the 6-month mortality (HR = 2.5, 95% CI = 1.6-3.9, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: This study suggests an important subset for use of bivalirudin in lieu of heparin that will benefit the very elderly.