Assessment of Transportation by Air for Patients with Acute ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction from Non-PCI Centers

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the delays that can potentially occur in the emergency transfer of patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) to percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) centers. We conducted a retrospective study using the medical reports pertaining to 97 patients who presented to the Emergency Department of the Emergency County Hospital of Galati during the year of 2018 with the diagnosis of STEMI and meeting eligibility criteria for PCI, thus warranting transfer to a hospital with PCI facilities. The pick-up time of patients diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction from the emergency department by the transfer crew is significantly shorter (p < 0.05) than those transferred by air, regardless of the PCI center to which the transfer was performed, Iasi or Bucharest, when compared to the time required to process the patients transferred by land to the same PCI centers. The results of the study shows that the helicopter use for transferring acute myocardial infarction patients to a PCI center must be considered, given the distance between non-PCI and PCI centers is over 200 km.

Measuring Spatial Accessibility to Hospitals of Acute Myocardial Infarction in Multi Period Scale: A Case Study in Shijingshan District, Beijing, China

“…At present, most of the research on AMI emergency treatment is from a medical perspective, exploring how to improve the level of medical treatment and the survival rate of AMI patients [7,8], as well as how to shorten the preparation time for PCI surgery [9]. There is still a lack of relevant research regarding how to shorten the travel time to hospitals for AMI patients and optimize and improve the layout and transportation planning from the perspective of the medical facility.…”

Interfacility Transport of Critically Ill Patients

“…Severe injury and conditions requiring angiointervention may benefit from air transport, but the data are less compelling for other conditions (112)(113)(114)(115)(116)(117). Accordingly, fixed-wing transport may be optimal when long distance travel is required, perhaps best exemplified by military CCATT outcomes (118). Selective, compared with routine, helicopter CCT avoids the expense and over-triage associated with unnecessary deployment (119)(120)(121)(122)(123).…”