Table 1 Baseline characteristics Group FDR p value MVO(−)/IMH(−) (n = 41) MVO(+)/IMH(−) (n = 10) MVO(+)/IMH(+) (n = 39) Age (years) 61 ± 9 59 ± 15 59 ± 12 0.64 Male (%) 27 (66) 6 (60) 32 (82) 0.29 DM (%) 4 (10) 1 (10) 1 (3) 0.49 Smoking (%) 33 (80) 9 (90) 36 (92) 0.38 Hypertension (%) 20 (49) 3 (30) 12 (31) 0.35 Hypercholesterolaemia (%) 11 (27) 3 (30) 11 (28) 0.95 Positive family history (%) 16 (39) 3 (30) 22 (56) 0.29 Anterior location (%) 10 (24) 2 (20) 16 (41) 0.30 Previous angina (%) 13 (32) 3 (30) 21 (54) 0.20 GIIbIIIa inhibitor (%) 17 (41) 5 (50) 23 (59) 0.38 TIMI 3  Pre-PCI (%) 10 (24) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0.004  Post-PCI (%) 36 (88) 9 (90) 35 (90) 0.66 Rentrop ≥2 (%) 9 (22) 5 (50) 7 (18) 0.20 Thrombosuction (%) 9 (22) 2 (20) 11 (28) 0.89 Time to PCI (min) 217 (165–304) 177 (148–248) 201 (160–291) 0.65 AAR (%) 19 ± 121.2 27 ± 81 33 ± 92 <0.001 IS (%) 8 ± 83.4 16 ± 73.5 23 ± 94.5 <0.001 Myocardial salvage (%) 54 ± 326 40 ± 25 28 ± 246 0.004 MVO (% of LV mass) 0 0.8 (0.4–1.9) 1.7 (1.0–3.3) 0.07 IMH (% of LV mass) 0 0 1.6 (1.0–2.4) Values are presented as mean ± SD or median and IQR; AAR: area at risk; DM: diabetes mellitus; IS: infarct size at baseline; IHM: intramyocardial haemorrhage; MVO: microvascular obstruction; PCI: percutaneous coronary intervention. Superscripts indicate significant post-hoc, pairwise comparisons