Aggressive Measures to Decrease Door to Balloon Time May Increase the Incidence of Unnecessary Cardiac Catheterization and Delay Appropriate Care.
Door-to-balloon (DTB) time is an important quality measure for ST-segment myocardial elevation infarction (STEMI). Aggressive measures to reduce DTB time can increase the incidence of false positive-STEMI and may increase mortality in that group. Efforts to reduce DTB time should be monitored systematically to avoid unnecessary procedures especially in critically ill patients who don't have STEMI and may benefit from other appropriate therapies in timely manner. We report two cases where trying to achieve an aggressive DTB time may have led to unwarranted outcomes.
Zaher
Z
Fanari
Niksad
N
Abraham
Sumaya
S
Hammami
Andrew J
AJ
Doorey
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization; D057210:Delayed Diagnosis; D004562:Electrocardiography; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011859:Radiography; D012640:Seizures / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012769:Shock / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D019564:Unnecessary Procedures