The black solid line depicts the individual contributions to final MI size of acute myocardial ischemic injury and of myocardial reperfusion injury. The green dashed line depicts the theoretical MI size following PPCI based on acute myocardial ischemia alone in the absence of myocardial reperfusion injury. The red dashed line depicts the theoretical MI size based on acute myocardial ischemia alone in the absence of PPCI. The presence of myocardial reperfusion injury attenuates the benefit of PPCI in terms of the reduction of MI size. Therefore, the administration of a therapeutic strategy as an adjunct to PPCI that is capable of reducing myocardial reperfusion injury would result in a smaller MI size (as depicted by the green dashed line) and take advantage of full benefits of myocardial reperfusion. Figure modified from Cardiovascular Research (93).