Intracoronary and systemic melatonin to patients with acute myocardial infarction: protocol for the IMPACT trial

Ischaemia-reperfusion injury following acute myocardial infarctions (AMI) is an unavoidable consequence of the primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI) procedure. A pivotal mechanism in ischaemia-reperfusion injury is the production of reactive oxygen species following reperfusion. The endogenous hormone, melatonin, works as an antioxidant and could potentially minimise the ischaemia-reperfusion injury. Given intracoronarily, it enables melatonin to work directly at the site of reperfusion. We wish to test if melatonin, as an antioxidant, can minimise the reperfusion injury following pPCI in patients with AMI.