MUNICH: A major international clinical trial has found that functional coronary angiography can reduce cardiovascular complications and improve treatment safety in patients suffering from ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) who also have disease in multiple coronary arteries.
The findings come from the AIR-STEMI trial, presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2026 and published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study compared treatment guided by functional coronary angiography with conventional angiography.
Functional angiography allows doctors to assess not only how narrowed an artery appears on an image but also whether the narrowing is actually restricting blood flow. This can help physicians decide which blockages require intervention and which can safely be treated with medication.
The trial found that patients treated using the functional approach experienced fewer major cardiovascular events than those treated using conventional angiography. Researchers said the strategy reduced the risk of outcomes including death, heart attack, stroke and repeat procedures related to ischemia.
The findings could influence future approaches to treating STEMI patients with multivessel coronary artery disease by helping doctors make more precise decisions about revascularisation.
