Myocardial infarction centres: the way forward

Total Center Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Volume and 30-Day Mortality: A Contemporary National Cohort Study of 427 467 Elective, Urgent, and Emergency Cases

BACKGROUND

The relationship between procedural volume and prognosis after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) remains uncertain, with some studies finding in favor of an inverse association and some against. This UK study provides a contemporary reassessment in one of the few countries in the world with a nationally representative PCI registry.

METHODS AND RESULTS

A nationwide cohort study was performed using the national British Cardiovascular Intervention Society registry. All adult patients undergoing PCI in 93 English and Welsh NHS hospitals between 2007 and 2013 were analyzed using hierarchical modeling with adjustment for patient risk. Of 427 467 procedures (22.0% primary PCI) in 93 hospitals, 30-day mortality was 1.9% (4.8% primary PCI). 87.1% of centers undertook between 200 and 2000 procedures annually. Case mix varied with center volume. In centers with 200 to 399 PCI cases per year, a smaller proportion were PCI for ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (8.4%) than in centers with 1500 to 1999 PCI cases per year (24.2%), but proportionally more were for ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction with cardiogenic shock (8.4% versus 4.3%). For the overall PCI cohort, after risk adjustment, there was no significant evidence of worse, or better, outcomes in lower volume centers from our own study, or in combination with results from other studies. For primary PCI, there was also no evidence for increased or decreased mortality in lower volume centers.

CONCLUSIONS

After adjustment for differences in case mix and clinical presentation, this study supports the conclusion of no trend for increased mortality in lower volume centers for PCI in the UK healthcare system.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION

https://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT02184949.

Treatment delays in ST elevation myocardial infarction

Can be reduced by prehospital diagnosis and direct transfer to high volume catheterisation laboratories

The recent evolution of coronary care units into intensive cardiac care units: the experience of a tertiary center in Florence

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the evolution of intensive cardiac care units (ICCUs) in the third millenium by assessing the activity and the workload of our ICCU which is a Hub center, from 1 January 2004 to 30 June 2005.

METHODS

Among the 1397 patients consecutively admitted to our ICCU, 40.5% came from Spokes. Patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction comprised 29.5% of the entire population: all of them were admitted to ICCU after mechanical reperfusion.

RESULTS

The incidences of ventricular fibrillation (1%) and complete AV block (0.6%) are low in our patients. The most frequent complications were acute renal failure requiring renal replacement therapy (4.4%) and vascular and hemorrhagic complications (4.3%).

CONCLUSIONS

Our ICCU is a post-reperfusion unit for treating complications of therapy and older and more complex patients who require more intensive care. This is why the cardiac intensivists also need to be skilled in general intensive care. In the Integrated Cardiac Network (Hub-and-Spoke model), ICCUs play a crucial role in the management of all cardiac emergencies, and in maintaining a continuous and strict interplay with Spokes, they have a prominent and unique role in the selection and early treatment of acute cardiac patients and their follow-up.

Redefining the coronary care unit: an observational study of patients admitted to hospital in England and Wales in 2003

BACKGROUND

Coronary care units were developed in the 1960s as specially equipped and staffed areas where patients with acute myocardial infarction could be monitored and offered rapid resuscitation from life-threatening arrhythmias. Awareness of the morbidity and mortality of the wider spectrum of acute coronary ischaemia was unrecognized at that time.

AIM

To examine the relative frequencies with which thrombolytic treatment and resuscitation from cardiac arrest are provided for patients with myocardial infarction in cardiac care units (CCUs), emergency departments (EDs) and other medical wards.

DESIGN

Observational study.

METHODS

We analysed records from the National Audit of Myocardial Infarction Project (MINAP) for 61 688 patients admitted to 230 acute hospitals in England and Wales during 2003, and who received a final diagnosis of myocardial infarction, for locations of initiation of thrombolytic therapy and of first cardiac arrest within hospital.

RESULTS

Overall, 84% of 27 881 patients with ST-segment-elevation infarction, but only 42% of 30 382 patients with non-ST-elevation infarction, were admitted to a CCU. Of those receiving thrombolytic treatment for ST-elevation infarction, 68.3% of 21 595 did so in the ED. Within the first 4 h after arrival, the majority of episodes of cardiac arrest occurred in the ED: 709 (57%) vs. 488 (39%) in CCU, and 49 (4%) in medical wards.

DISCUSSION

The traditional role of the CCU in providing early resuscitation and thrombolytic treatment for patients with ST elevation infarction has largely been devolved to the ED. The role of the CCU should be re-evaluated, and the service re-designed to provide specialist care for all presentations of acute coronary syndrome.