Evaluating the risk of a rescue percutaneous coronary intervention after thrombolysis therapy: A decision tree approach

Thrombolysis intervention is a common therapeutic practice used in order to dissolve the coronary atherosclerotic plate whenever Percoutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) cannot be performed. In case the thrombolytic drug fails, a Rescue PCI is needed in order to restore the normal coronary blood flow. Thus, assessing the individual risk of Thrombolysis failure is a crucial step before deciding to perform a thrombolytic intervention. Aim of the present study is to develop a simple set of rules able to support physicians in discriminating patients eligible for a Thrombolysis intervention. The proposed models pointed out some interesting interactions between blood pressure values and clinical parameters related to patient's metabolism, suggesting new interesting mutual influences among Thrombolysis failure predictors.