Door-to-balloon time and the determining factors in a tertiary cardiac center in Nepal.

BACKGROUND: Door-to-balloon (DTB) time of 90 min during primary angioplasty is considered as the benchmark duration. Shorter DTB time is preferable, and longer duration can have poor clinical outcomes. METHODS: A cross-sectional observational study of three months in Shahid Gangalal National Heart Center was conducted in which all patients undergoing primary angioplasty were included. The DTB time was calculated, and the different determining factors were studied. RESULTS: Seventy-nine patients undergoing primary percutaneous intervention were studied. The median DTB time was 79 minutes (Interquartile range [IQR] 59-115 min). Forty-six (58.2%) patients had a DTB time of less than 90 min. DTB time varied significantly with direct visit vs transfer (p = 0.029) and office time visit (9 am-5 pm) vs off time (5 pm-9 am) (p = 0.012). DTB time did not differ between any infarct-related vessels (p = 0.471), number of vessels involved (p = 0.638), and the added procedures (defibrillation, thrombosuction, and temporary pacemaker insertion) (p = 0.682) during angioplasty. No significant differences were recorded according to age (p = 0.330), gender (p = 0.254), hypertension (p = 0.073), diabetes (p = 0.487), heart failure (p = 0.316), and baseline left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) (p = 0.819). CONCLUSION: The median DTB time in primary angioplasty was less than 90 minutes. The significant determining factors were timing of hospital visit (office vs off time) and type of visit (direct vs transfer). There can be improvement in factors determining DTB time to lower it further.

Prehospital Events in ST- Elevation Myocardial Infarction Undergoing Primary Angioplasty.

INTRODUCTION: Pre-hospital delay includes time from onset of symptoms of myocardial infarction till arrival to emergency room of the hospital. This defines time from symptom onset to first medical contact and first medical contact to emergency room. This study aims to study the prehospital events and determining factors in patients undergoing primary angioplasty. METHODS: This was a cross sectional study in Shahid Gangalal National Heart Centre for three months. Timings of chest pain, first medical contact time, transfer time to hospital and overall pre-hospital time for PCI and risk factors were analysed. RESULTS: There were 79 cases with 66 (83.5%) males and 13 (16.5%) females with mean age 56±11.2 years. Risk factors were 60 (75.9%), smoking, 47 (59.5%) hypertension, 25 (31.6%) diabetes, 22 (27.8%) dyslipidaemia and 16 (20.3%) heart failure. Chest pain was maximum in 5 to 9 AM. The median prehospital delay was 300 minutes (5.0 hours) of which symptom to first medical contact was 165 minutes and first medical contact to hospital was 80 minutes. The longer median prehospital delay for hypertension, diabetes, female and age ≥50 years and the shorter for male, age less than 50 years, dyslipidemia and heart failure, though not statistically significant. Private transport was the preferred from symptom to first medical contact and ambulance for first medical contact to emergency room. Patients received in ER had aspirin 72 (91.1%), atorvastatin 54 (68.4%) and double anti-platelets 45 (57%). CONCLUSIONS: Chest pain was common in morning and the prehospital delay can be minimized by improving time from symptom to first medical contact and first medical contact to Emergency room.