title: Severity of cardiovascular disease patients transported by air ambulance.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although helicopters have been used in an air ambulance system for the past decade in Japan, the appropriate selection of patients for this transport mode has not been investigated. The present study investigates which patients could potentially benefit the most from helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS).
  
  
  METHODS
  We investigated the extent of circulatory and respiratory support required in the intensive care unit (ICU) and ultimate outcomes of 2340 patients with cardiovascular disease admitted to 1 institution between October 2001 and December 2009. Two hundred and seventy were transported by HEMS (HEMS group), and 2070 were transported by other means (non-HEMS group).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Temporary cardiac pacing, ventilator management, intra-aortic balloon pumping, percutaneous cardiopulmonary support, electrical defibrillation, and therapeutic hypothermia were more frequently required by patients in the HEMS group vs. the non-HEMS group (10.4%, 28.1%, 17.0%, 5.2%, 10.0% and 3.4% vs. 8%, 17.9%, 10.9%, 2.3%, 4.5% and 0.4%, respectively). The mortality rate was higher in the HEMS group than in the non-HEMS group in the ICU (9.6% vs. 5.3%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Disease was more clinically severe and the outcome was poorer among patients with cardiovascular diseases transported by HEMS than by other means.
authors: Intensive Care Unit, Chiba Hokusoh Hospital, Nippon Medical School, Japan. hata-n@nms.ac.jp
authors: Noritake
authors: N
authors: Hata
authors: Takuro
authors: T
authors: Shinada
authors: Nobuaki
authors: N
authors: Kobayashi
authors: Kazunori
authors: K
authors: Tomita
authors: Mitsunobu
authors: M
authors: Kitamura
authors: Ayaka
authors: A
authors: Nozaki
authors: Osamu
authors: O
authors: Kurihara
authors: Hideo
authors: H
authors: Tokuyama
authors: Akihiro
authors: A
authors: Shirakabe
authors: Shinya
authors: S
authors: Yokoyama
authors: Yoshiaki
authors: Y
authors: Hara
authors: Hisashi
authors: H
authors: Matsumoto
authors: Kunihiro
authors: K
authors: Mashiko
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017732:Air Ambulances; D002304:Cardiac Pacing, Artificial / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D004554:Electric Countershock / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007036:Hypothermia, Induced / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007423:Intra-Aortic Balloon Pumping / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D012122:Ventilators, Mechanical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data