ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the efficacy and safety of intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) therapy in patients with acute myocardial infarction(AMI) based on the meta-analysis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Eligible published randomized controlled clinical research (RCT) were retrieved in the Pubmed, EMBase, Cochrane, China biological medical literature, Wanfang, VIP and CNKI database from 1980 to April 2, 2012. The analysis was performed with the software of RevMan 5.1.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Thirteen RCTs with 1958 patients (AMI with IABP therapy, n = 970,without IABP therapy, n = 988) were included. The 30-day mortality between the two groups was similar (RR = 0.77, 95%CI 0.58-1.03, P = 0.08), but the 30-day mortality in the cardiac shock subgroup was significantly lower in IABP group than in without IABP group (RR = 0.65, 95%CI 0.44-0.97, P = 0.04). The 6-month mortality was significantly lower in IABP group than in without IABP group (RR = 0.72, 95%CI 0.55-0.94, P = 0.02). The incidence of major bleeding was significantly higher in IABP group than in without IABP group (RR = 1.43, 95%CI 1.16-1.75, P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>IABP therapy is effective to reduce earlier mortality post AMI, particularly for patients with cardiac shock.</p>