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Improvements in Door to Balloon Time in the United States, 2005-2010
Study Questions:
What has been the change in door-to-balloon time (D2BT) in the United States over the last 5 years?
Methods:
The authors assessed the change in D2BT based on primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) data submitted by all hospitals in the United States to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services from January 2005 to September 2010.
Results:
There has been a dramatic improvement in D2BT nationally, with the median D2BT declining from 96 minutes to 64 minutes. The proportion of patients undergoing primary PCI within 90 minutes increased from 44% to 94%, and those undergoing PCI within 75 minutes increased from 27% to 70%.
Conclusions:
The authors concluded that considerable progress has been achieved nationally in providing rapid primary PCI of patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.
Perspective:
This study provides an overview of the dramatic reduction in D2BT that has been achieved over the last 5 years nationally as a direct result of the efforts of many people working at the national, institutional, and local level. The improvement in D2BT must be followed by efforts to reduce symptom-to-balloon time so that timely reperfusion can be achieved in the majority of patients.
Keywords: Hospitals, Myocardial Infarction, Cardiology, United States, Percutaneous Coronary Intervention
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