De Luca L, Uguccioni M, Putini RL, et al. - In this study, the short-term outcome of unfractionated heparin (UFH) was compared with that of fondaparinux in acute myocardial infarction patients who had successful percutaneous coronary intervention and intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) insertion. The occurrence of all-cause mortality, stroke or transient ischaemic attack, reinfarction, unplanned revascularisation, major or minor limb ischaemia, and any bleeding at 1 month, was assessed as primary outcome. Clinical follow-up, completed in 98.5% of cases, revealed an incidence of 22.5% and 5.7% for the primary outcome in UFH and fondaparinux groups, respectively. Based on findings, fondaparinux was concluded as a safer choice, as it decreased early bleeding complications at one month, compared with UFH in the management of IABP.