Opening all blocked arteries with stents in patients with a heart attack, known as complete revascularization, reduces the risk of death from cardiovascular causes, death from any cause and future heart attacks compared with opening only the culprit artery causing the heart attack according to a new, large international study led by researchers at the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI), a joint organization of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences.
The results were published simultaneously in The Lancet and presented in a Late-Breaking Clinical Science Featured Research Session at the American Heart Association’s 2025 Scientific Sessions in New Orleans, Louisiana, on November 9, 2025.
“Cardiologists face a dilemma when a patient has a heart attack and multiple coronary artery blockages are found: should they treat only the culprit artery causing the acute heart attack, or perform complete revascularization and open all blocked arteries, including the bystander arteries?” said Shamir R. Mehta, study chair, PHRI senior scientist, interventional cardiologist at McMaster University.








