New initiative teams Emergency Medicine and Cardiology Services

Recent studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrated the benefits of primary percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) over thrombolytic therapy for patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI). In response to these findings, and in an effort to further expand both our emergency medicine and cardiology services to the community, Frankford Hospitals have launched an emergency angioplasty program at Frankford Hospital - Torresdale. In just a few months, this program has helped reduce the elapsed time between arrival to the Emergency Room and admission to the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory by over 27 percent for patients with acute MI.

This state-of-the-art multidisciplinary program teams the Emergency Department and Cardiac Cath Lab to perform primary PTCA as quickly as possible. Under the new system, when a patient presents with acute ST elevation MI, Emergency Department staff members call a dedicated “MI” pager carried by an on-call Interventional Cardiologist who, upon receiving the page, mobilizes the cath lab. The patient is then emergently transported to the cath lab, where he or she receives emergency angioplasty literally within minutes of arrival. This rapid coordination eliminates time that had been previously spent on multiple consults during the admission process. This “Door-to-Balloon” treatment process has so far proven extremely efficient and successful, resulting in positive patient outcomes. Frankford looks forward to continuing to provide this service to the community.

Published: 11-9-2003