Early invasive management in patients with unstable angina and non-ST elevation myocardial infarct (NSTEMI) is now well established. However, patients can wait for weeks at district general hospitals (DGHs) for in-patient transfer to the cardiac centre for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), which results in inefficient bed utilisation.
At the Yorkshire Heart Centre (YHC), the referral process for unstable angina/NSTEMI was streamlined to minimise the delay between time of referral and PCI. We audited the waiting time from referral to the PCI procedure as well as the six- and 12-month outcomes for both acute and elective PCI and compared our outcome data to the published trials.
A total of 1,757 patients underwent PCI at YHC in 2002; of these 47% were acute cases. 72% of patients were treated within two days of referral and 97% within three days. The mean waiting time for patients referred from within the YHC was 1.9 days and for those referred from the DGHs was 2.2 days. The six-month mortality rate for the acute PCI group was 2.5%.
Percutaneous coronary interventions in West Yorkshire for the year 2002: an audit
November 2005Br J Cardiol (Acute Interv Cardiol) 2005;12:AIC 81–AIC 82 Leave a commentClick any image to enlarge
