OBJECTIVES: We hypothesized that patients most likely to benefit would be those at high risk with a shorter duration of acute ischemia and who required transfer for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). BACKGROUND: The FINESSE (Facilitated Intervention with Enhanced Reperfusion Speed to Stop Events) study failed to demonstrate an improvement in the 90-day composite clinical end point of early treatment with abciximab plus half-dose reteplase (combination-facilitated PCI) or abciximab alone. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of 2,452 patients in this double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Patients were stratified by Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) risk score for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), presentation to a spoke (no PCI available) or hub site, and symptom-to-randomization time. Outcomes included the primary composite end point of death, ventricular fibrillation after 48 h, cardiogenic shock, and congestive heart failure through day 90 as well as 1-year mortality. RESULTS: Mortality for all patients at 1 year was directly related to TIMI risk score (23 of 1,223 = 1.9% in patients with score <3 and 145 of 1,229 = 11.8% with score > or =3, p < 0.001). Patients with TIMI risk score > or =3 and presentation to a spoke site with a symptom-to-randomization time < or =4 h had significantly better 1-year survival if treated with combination-facilitated PCI (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.351, p = 0.01) as well as 90-day composite outcome (HR: 0.45, p = 0.009). A trend for improved survival was also observed in patients with TIMI score > or =3 and spoke site alone (HR: 0.549, p = 0.06). CONCLUSIONS: Facilitation of PCI with a combination of abciximab and half-dose reteplase improved survival at 1 year in high-risk patients presenting to a spoke hospital with symptom-to-randomization time < or =4 h. Further prospective study of facilitated PCI in this subgroup of patients is warranted.