November 13th, 2006

"Care for Heart Attack Patients Too Slow in Hospitals"

A new study found that only one-third of hospitals provide emergency treatment to heart attack patients fast enough to meet the scientific standards for saving lives. Researchers also claim that even top doctors and hospitals meet the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association guidelines in only 50 percent of their cases.

Medical Guidelines

Of the 200,000 Americans who suffer from heart attacks every year, nearly 10,000 patients die in hospitals around the country.

Research has shown that the best way to care for a serious heart attack is by reopening the blocked arteries by pumping a small balloon at the clogged site. This emergency procedure—balloon angioplasty—may decrease the patient''s risk of death by 40 percent, but only if it is performed in the first 90 minutes of arriving at the hospital.

If every hospital met this medical guideline and performed balloon angioplasty on severe heart attack cases, then approximately 1,000 lives would be saved each year.

However, only about 33 percent of patients actually receive balloon angioplasty within the 90-minutes time frame.

Study Details

The new study, sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute evaluated 365 hospitals nationwide in an attempt to determine which procedures they use to ensure heart attack patients get angioplasty quickly.

According to the results of the study, only 35 percent of hospitals had a door-to-balloon time of 90 or less minutes. Forty-eight percent reported a door-to-balloon time of 91 minutes to 120 minutes, 13 percent of hospitals had 121 to 150 minutes, and four percent capped out at 150.

The research was conducted to help launch the new D2B campaign—door-to-balloon, which would give hospitals ways to improve heart attack emergency care performance. “We''re losing too many lives,” says president of the ACC Steven Nissen.

Yale cardiologist Harlan Krumholz, lead researcher and a creator of the campaign claims that every minute counts when you''re having a heart attack. “You''ve had a heart attack. You''re rushed to the hospital, and now you''re waiting for a procedure to open the blockage,” says Krumholz. “Most Americans wait two hours or more. And every minute you wait, your heart is being deprived of oxygen.”

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