Association of Total Ischemic Times and In-Hospital Outcomes of Acute STEMI Patients who Underwent Primary Angioplasty at a Tertiary Cardiac Care Facility

Aims: To determine the association between total ischemic time and in-hospital outcome of acute ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients who underwent primary angioplasty.

Study Design: Prospective observational study.

Place & Duration of Study: Department of Cardiology, Dow university of health sciences Karachi between October 2017 till March 2021.

Methodology: Data for total ischemic time analysis were collected from 366 STEMI patients who consecutively underwent primary angioplasty. Total ischemic time was measured from the onset of chest pain to o the first balloon inflation during primary angioplasty and in hospital outcome was measured.

Results: Total ischemic times were available in 366 STEMI patients which was ≥ 30 minutes and < 24 hours: ≤ 2 hours in 15.5%, >2-3 hours in 11.4%, >3-5 hours in 25.4%, and >5 hours in 47.5% of STEMI patients. In addition, STEMI patients with total ischemic times <5 hours demonstrated complete ST-segment resolution and reduced death rate than those with total ischemic times >5 hours.

Conclusion: This study showed that shorter ischemic times are significantly related to improved myocardial reperfusion and decreased mortality.