On- vs off-hours primary percutaneous coronary intervention: a single-centre experience

Introduction

In ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients, emergency medical system delays importantly affect outcomes. The effect of admission time in STEMI patients is dubious when percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is the preferred reperfusion strategy.

Aims

The authors aimed to retrospectively describe the association between admission time and STEMI patient's care standards and outcomes.

Methods

Characteristics and outcomes of 1222 consecutive STEMI patients treated in a PCI-centre were collected. On-hours were defined as admission on non-national-holidays from Monday to Friday from 8 AM to 6 PM. Time delays, in-hospital and one-year all-cause mortality were assessed.

Results

A total of 439 patients (36%) were admitted on-hours and 783 patients (64%) were admitted off-hours. Baseline characteristics were well-balanced between groups, including the percentage of patients admitted in cardiogenic shock (on-hours: 4.6% vs off-hours 4%; p=0.62).

Median emergency system dependent time to reperfusion (i.e. first-medical contact to reperfusion) did not differ between the two groups (on-hours: 120 min vs. off-hours 123 min, p=0.54). The authors observed no association between admission time and in-hospital mortality (on-hours: 5% vs. off-hours 4.9%, p=0.90) or 1-year mortality (on-hours: 10% vs. off-hours 10%, p=0.97).

In patients admitted directly in the PCI-centre, median time from first-medical contact to reperfusion (on-hours: 87 min vs off-hours: 88 min, p=0.54), in-hospital mortality (on-hours: 4% vs off-hours: 7%, p=0.30) and 1 year mortality (on-hours: 9% vs off-hours: 13%, p=0.27) did not differ between the two groups.

Survival analysis showed no survival benefit of on-hours PCI over off-hours PCI (HR 1.01; 95% CI [0.77–1.46], p=0.95).

Conclusion

In a contemporary well-organized emergency network, STEMI patients admission time in the PCI-centre was not associated with reperfusion delays or increased mortality.

Funding Acknowledgement

Type of funding sources: None. Kaplan-Meier curve

P232 A cardiac thrombus... or maybe not

A 61 years old female with history of rheumatic arthritis and Sjogren Syndrom resorted to the emergency room in December of 2017 for pleuritic chest pain and dyspnea. An angioCT showed a luminal filling defect at the left inferior pulmonary artery with extension to the segmentar vessels. A pulmonary embolism (PE) was diagnosed and the patient was admitted. The study performed, including transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) was unremarkable. Patient was discharged after 15 days treated with a direct oral anticoagulant. Six months later she returned to the emergency room with the same complaints. A new angioCT showed reduction of the previous luminal filling defects, but a focal defect in the filling of the right atrium (RA) was visualized. A TTE showed a mass (17 mm) at the RA with apparent origin at the superior vena cava. A presumptive diagnostic of atrial thrombus was done and patient started therapy with vitamin K antagonist. Three months later, TTE was repeated and the mass was still present (19 mm). Five months later, the mass was still visualized at TTE (17 mm). A transesophagic echocardiogram confirmed the presence of a RA mass with 30x22 mm of major dimensions, with close relation with the interatrial septum suggestive of a tumor. A cardiac magnetic resonance revealed a RA mass without vascularization. A cardiac gated CT showed at the RA a low density nodular image of 26x22 mm at the axial plan, with an extension of 28 mm, adjacent to the posterior wall of the RA. After contrast administration, some areas did not had significant captation while some did, aspects compatible with a "pseudoenhancement" aspect. A positron tomography showed mild to moderate FDG captation at the RA. Meanwhile, patient was under anticoagulation for 2 years with no regression of the mass. For this reason, patient was oriented to cardiac surgery. The mass was resected and the histology revealed a RA myxoma.

Cardiac masses can be due to tumour, thrombus or vegetation. In this case, the mass was highly considered to be a thrombus due to the presence of multiple risk factors: prothrombotic disease and pulmonary embolism. However, the fact that the mass did not reduce with therapy raised suspicion of other diagnosis. Although rare, myxomas can be found in the RA, and should be included in the differential diagnosis of right-sided intracardiac masses. Although myxomas are histologically benign, potential for embolization and sudden death make surgical resection a priority. Its diagnosis has now increased with the use of echocardiogradiography, and has made it the main modality for the evaluation of myxomas. PE is the most dreaded and devastating complication of right-sided myxoma. In cases of RA myxomas, clinically evident PE events are uncommon. Nevertheless, there have been reports of embolization of thrombi or tumor fragments into the pulmonary vessels in cases of right in approximately 3.2% of myxoma patients.