In a TCTMD article titled “Delays in STEMI Treatment Remain Common, Tied to Worse PCI Outcomes,” cardiologist Harold Dauerman, M.D., Larner professor of medicine and surgery, says the fact that only a minority of U.S. hospitals consistently meet time-to-treatment targets for STEMI patients set out by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology is a “call to action.” A STEMI (ST-elevation myocardial infarction) is a severe type of heart attack that requires immediate treatment to restore blood flow to the heart.Delays in treatment are associated with poorer outcomes, according to an analysis of the American Heart Association Get With The Guidelines Coronary Artery Disease (GWTG-CAD) registry.
A study published in JAMA Cardiology “suggests that despite extensive evidence supporting timely STEMI treatment and established national standards, coordinated strategies are needed to enhance the adoption of these benchmarks with targeted local interventions to address system-based challenges.”
Indeed, these findings form “a very sobering picture of STEMI care in the United States,” Dauerman commented. “It is sobering to see how far we still have to go on this and the possibility that this is leading to excess death.”