ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Coronary reperfusion therapy is aimed at timely restoration of antegrade flow in the culprit artery. However, successful restoration of epicardial flow does not guarantee restoration of flow at the myocardial tissue level. In about 15% of patients, the capillary structure becomes disorganized due to endothelial swelling, compression by tissue, myocyte edema, and neutrophil infiltration leading to microvascular obstruction (1,2). This is also known as the no-reflow phenomenon and was first described by Kloner et al. (3). This inadequate microvascular perfusion is clinically relevant, as it is associated with larger myocardial infarct size, reduced left ventricular function, and a worse clinical outcome when compared to patients with adequate myocardial reperfusion.
