A trial comparing an invasive and a conservative strategy to treat patients over the age of 75 years with a non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction—SENIOR-RITA—has shown that there was no significant reduction in the combined risk of cardiovascular death or non-fatal myocardial infarction with the invasive strategy.
Presenting the results of the study, the largest of its kind in this population, at the 2024 European Society of Cardiology (ESC) congress, study chair and chief investigator Vijay Kunadian (Translational and Clinical Research Institute, Newcastle University and Freeman Hospital, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK) said that though the invasive strategy did not reduce the primary endpoint, it did appear to be safe overall in older patients.
Speaking to Cardiovascular News, Kunadian unpacks the implications for the findings of the study on clinical practice, and discusses the challenges in conducting a clinical trial in an elderly patient population.
