ScienceDaily (Dec. 19, 2011) — In a new study, researchers have found a 44 percent increase since 2001 in the number of hospitals that offer definitive emergency care to patients with heart attack, but only a 1 percent increase in access to that care. ...Patients with heart attacks caused by arterial blockages require emergency care to restore normal blood flow to the heart. Timely percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), a surgical procedure that can manually remove blockages with a balloon and stent-tipped catheter, has been shown to save lives compared to fibrinolytic therapy, a non-surgical procedure that can dissolve some blockages with the injection of a "clot-busting" drug.However, PCI is available only in about one in three U.S. hospitals. When symptoms of a heart attack begin, those patients who are within a 60-minute drive time of these hospitals have the best chance of PCI enabling them to avoid or reduce the damage of a heart attack.
Please read full at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111219135217.htm
