Coordinated Emergency Care Saves Lives, Lessens Damage During Heart Attack

Contact: Sarah Avery Phone: [phone] Email:[e-mail]://www.dukehealth.orgEMBARGOED FOR RELEASE until 4 p.m (ET) on Monday, Aug. 1, 2016DURHAM, N.C. -- Patients suffering from deadly heart attacks can be spared more extensive heart damage when emergency responders and hospitals work together to standardize their treatment processes, according to a study published August 1 in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association (AHA).  The findings are based on a national study launched in 2012 by the AHA and Duke Health that focused on ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), a type of heart attack where one of the blood vessels supplying the heart becomes blocked. Without blood flow, the heart muscle can be quickly and irreparably damaged, leading to shock, cardiac arrest and death.  “This work is important because heart attacks are such a common cause of death,” saidChristopher Granger, M.D., senior author of the study who helped lead the national project.“The single most important way to prevent death in the case of heart attack is to rapidly open the blood vessel so that blood flow is restored. This is one of the most important things we can do in all of cardiovascular care,” said Granger, who is also a professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine. The 18-month project, called Mission: Lifeline STEMI Systems Accelerator, involved nearly 24,000 patients, 484 hospitals, and 1,253 EMS agencies in 16 regions across t...

Source: DukeHealth.org: Duke Health Features - August 2, 2016 Category: Pediatrics Tags: Duke Medicine Source Type: news