BACKGROUND - Reports showed no change of 7‐day mortality after primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for ST‐elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) between 2001 and 2011 in China. National rolling one‐year interventional standardized training program began in September 2009. However, the improvement in clinical outcome following STEMI PCI after 2011 remains unclear.

METHODS AND RESULTS - This multicenter MOODY registry study aimed to analyze the clinical improvement after STEMI PCI. Of a total of 9265 acute MI patients registered from 24 centers, 3142 STEMIs having a first medical contact time ≤12 hours and undergoing primary PCI were assigned to the Pre Group (n=1014, between March 1999 and October 2010) or the Post Group (n=2128, between 2010 November and 2016 Ocotber). The primary endpoint was in‐hospital cardiac death. Study endpoints were also compared between trained and untrained operators and between experienced (≥ 50 primary PCIs/year) and inexperienced personnel.

In‐hospital death after PCI was 3.0% in the Pre Group, significantly higher than 1.6% in the Post Group (p=0.035). The improvements in clinical outcome after PCI between the 2016 and Pre Groups were stably sustained through one‐year follow‐up. The significant reduction for in‐hospital death was noted when primary PCI was performed by trained (1.4% vs 5.4%, p<0.001) or experienced (2.7% vs 4.8%, p=0.001) operators, compared to untrained or inexperienced operators, respectively. Inclusion of the untrained operator into the conventional risk model strongly enhanced the prediction for endpoints. Age, Killip Class 3, diabetes, trans‐radial approach, and system delay were five predictors of in‐hospital death after primary PCI.

CONCLUSION - PCI for STEMI by a trained and experienced operator was associated with significant reduction of in‐hospital death. Our results strongly warrant the need for promoting the current system response and patient education.