Treatment & guidelines
Aims
- Prevent death
- Minimise patient's discomfort and distress
- Limit the extent of myocardial damage
Strategy
Re-establish myocardial reperfusion before irreversible damage occurs:
- Mechanically (percutaneous coronary intervention)
- For more information on pharmaco-invasive therapy, please see our ‘Pharmacoinvasive strategy’ information And our educational slidekit, ‘Pharmaco-invasive strategy in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI)’
- Pharmacologically (induction of thrombolysis using a fibrinolytic/thrombolytic agent). Please refer to section “Why Metalyse®?” for more information about pharmacological reperfusion and pre-hospital thrombolysis
REMEMBER: TIME IS MUSCLE
ESC STEMI guidelines 2017: reperfusion strategies
Aims
Early reperfusion has many advantages such as preventing death, limiting the extent of myocardial damage as well as reducing a patient’s distress and discomfort1
Strategy
Re-establishing myocardial reperfusion before irreversible damage occurs is crucial. This can be done:2
- Mechanically (PPCI, primary percutaneous coronary intervention)
- Pharmacologically (induction of thrombolysis by thrombolytic agent)
- Pharmaco-invasive means (combination of pharmacological and mechanical intervention)
AMI, acute myocardial infarction
Influence of time-to-treatment on odds ratio (or) of mortality
Time delay elements in thrombolysis
There are several factors that can help improving the time to treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients. Public education and raising awareness can lead to reducing symptom-onset to call times. Medical professionals also play a key role in reducing the first medical contact (FMC)-to-treatment times.
STEMI networks
STEMI networks foster strong communication among medical professionals involved in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction. They also facilitate pre-hospital diagnosis and thrombolysis or referral to a PCI-capable facility within guideline-specific timeframes.
Reperfusion treatments
Time is critical for STEMI management. Organised STEMI networks can be an invaluable asset in enabling STEMI patients. Various reperfusion treatments possible are:
Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) & primary PCI (PPCI)
- PPCI is the gold standard in STEMI care if performed within 120 min of FMC2,3
- Timely PPCI is difficult to achieve in many regions, when patients do not present directly to a PCI-capable facility via EMS or arrival at a facility is delayed 2,3
- PCI involves re-vascularisation of the blocked coronary artery by mechanical means
- Using the femoral or radial artery as an access point, a catheter with a balloon (and often a stent) is passed through the occlusion4
- The balloon is then inflated to open the vessel, and the stent is put in place to maintain the re-vascularisation4
EMS, emergency medical services
FMC, first medical contact
PPCI, primary percutaneous coronary intervention
- Steg PG, et al. Task Force on the management of ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). ESC Guidelines for the management of acute myocardial infarction in patients presenting with ST-segment elevation. Eur Heart J 2012;33:2569-2619.
- Choi SW et al. Effect of emergency medica service use and inter-hospital transfer on time to percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction: A multicenter observational study. Prehosp Emerg Care 2016;20:66-75.
- Sinnaeve PR & Van de Werf. Transporting STEMI patients for primary PCI: a long and windingroad paved with good intentions? Eur Heart J 2016;37:1041-1043.
- Keeley EC & Hillis LD. Primary PCI for myocardial infarction with ST-segment elevation. N Engl J Med 2007;356:47-54.