title: Transfer of patients with acute myocardial infarction for primary or acute angioplasty from hospitals without the facilities to perform angioplasty. Results from the pooled data of the Maximal Individual Therapy in Acute Myocardial Infarction (MITRA) Registry and the Myocardial Infarction Registry (MIR).
abstract: In patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) admitted at hospitals without angioplasty facilities there are some subgroups of patients which seem to profit from a transfer to primary or acute angioplasty. However, current clinical practice at such hospitals is unknown. We analyzed the pooled data of the German acute myocardial infarction registries MITRA and the MIR. Angioplasty was not available at 221/271 hospitals (81.5%). Out of 14,487 patients with acute myocardial infarction admitted to these hospitals, 50.1% (7,259/14,487) received thrombolysis at the initial hospital and 3.6% (523/14,487) were transferred. Out of the transferred patients, 55.3% (289/523) were treated with primary angioplasty and 44.7% (234/523) received a combination of thrombolysis and angioplasty. The proportion of transferred patients increased from 1.1% in 1994 to 5.5% in 1998 (p for trend = 0.001). One hundred and four hospitals (47.1%) never transferred patients. Patients transferred for primary angioplasty (289 patients) were compared to patients treated with thrombolysis at the initial hospitals (7,259 patients). Multivariate analysis showed the following independent predictors for transfer of patients for primary angioplasty: contraindications for thrombolysis (OR = 17.9), a non-diagnostic first ECG (OR = 4.0), pre-hospital delay > 6 hours (OR = 2.5), unknown symptom onset of the acute myocardial infarction (OR = 2.0) and anterior wall acute myocardial infarction (OR = 1.6). Heart failure at admission was the only independent predictor not to transfer patients (OR = 0.40). In Germany only 47.1% of hospitals without angioplasty facilities transfer patients with acute myocardial infarction to primary or acute angioplasty. The proportion of transferred patients increased from 1.1% in 1994 to 5.5% in 1998. Contraindications for thrombolysis were the strongest predictor to transfer patients to primary angioplasty.
authors.affiliation: Herzzentrum Ludwigshafen. erzahn@aol.com
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zahn
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schiele
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Gitt
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Heer
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wienbergen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gottwik
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Altmann
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Grube
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Baumgärtel
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Senges
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D000075202:Contraindications; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D010360:Patient Transfer; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015912:Thrombolytic Therapy; D016896:Treatment Outcome