Prehospital thrombolysis in myocardial infarction.
Studies comparing paramedic-initiated and hospital-initiated therapy show that the critical issue is not where or by whom thrombolysis is started but when it is started. Two of the greatest time-savers--and hence modifiers of infarct size and mortality--have been the introduction of the computer-interpreted ECG and simply alerting the hospital that a patient with a diagnosed acute MI will be arriving shortly.
Weaver
W D
WD
Division of Cardiology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle.
D004562:Electrocardiography; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D015912:Thrombolytic Therapy; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States