Deadly Heart Attacks Need Quick Treatment
The American Heart Association (AHA) is launching a community-based program to reduce the toll of the deadliest kind of heart attack.
The attack is total blockage of a heart artery, which can be fatal unless treated quickly in one of two ways.
Those options: medication therapy to clear away a clot blocking the artery, or angioplasty, the insertion of a balloon to push the artery open.
In technical terms, the attack is called an ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), referring to a feature seen on an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG).
And those treatments must be done quickly - ideally, within 30 minutes for clot-dissolving medication treatment, and within 90 minutes for angioplasty.
Fewer than half of all STEMI patients get the right treatment at the right time, says Dr. Alice Jacobs, at Boston University.
Dr. Jacobs, past president of the AHA, says the new program is called "Mission Lifeline."
The program's emphasis will be to improve on the current treatment statistics, notes Dr. Jacobs.
"Thirty percent of STEMI patients do not get clot-busting drugs," she says. "Twenty percent are not candidates for clot-busting drugs and, of these, 70 percent do not get angioplasty."
A major part of the effort will be devoted to establishing systems to transport STEMI patients to hospitals that are equipped to do angioplasty.
"Angioplasty is better than clot-busting treatment, even when transportation is needed," says Dr. Jacobs. Only 25 percent of US hospitals have the catheterization facilities that allow them to do emergency angioplasties.
But another major component of the program will be devoted to teaching persons in general to call 911 for emergency help when they experience symptoms of a heart attack.
About half of all heart attack patients now drive themselves to a hospital or are driven.
This approach adds up to a shocking loss of time when they could be getting emergency therapy, and the hospital could be preparing for their arrival, says Dr. Tim Henry, at the Minneapolis Heart Institute.
The Institute has a program that the AHA hopes will be a model for rural areas.
It ties together more than 100 hospitals, most of which cannot do angioplasty. There had been doubts about whether patients could be transferred quickly enough for angioplasty to be done on time.
But, Dr. Henry says, "We now have 31 hospitals trained up to 60 miles away, then out to 210 miles away. A 60-mile transfer can be done in 95 minutes, and a 200-mile transfer can be done in 120 minutes."
The death rate is currently 4 percent, says Dr. Henry, a figure he says is impressive because 15 percent of those transferred are over 80 years of age.
Comparable local programs in areas such as North Carolina and California also can serve as models, says Dr. Jacobs.
The program will start with individuals at risk of a heart attack, say Drs. Henry and Jacobs. It is important for those people to seek trained help as quickly as possible by calling 911.
Always consult your physician for more information.
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Each year, heart disease is at the top of the list of the country's most serious health problems.
In fact, statistics show that cardiovascular disease is America's leading health problem, and the leading cause of death.
The American Heart Association (AHA) says at least 71 million people in this country suffer from some form of heart disease.
One person in three suffers from some form of cardiovascular disease.
This includes high blood pressure - 65 million; coronary heart disease - 13 million; stroke - 5.5 million; congenital cardiovascular defects - 1 million; and congestive heart failure - 5 million.
Rheumatic heart disease/rheumatic fever kills 3,554 Americans each year.
Almost one out of every 2.7 deaths results from cardiovascular disease.
More than 2,600 Americans die of cardiovascular disease each day, an average of one death every 34 seconds.
Cardiovascular disease is the cause of more deaths than the next five causes of death combined, which are cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, accidents, diabetes mellitus, and flu/pneumonia.
It is a myth that heart disease is a man's disease. In fact, cardiovascular diseases are the number one killer of women (and men).
These diseases currently claim the lives of nearly a half a million females every year.
About one-third of cardiovascular disease deaths occurred prematurely (before age 75, the approximate average life expectancy in that year).
On average, someone in the US suffers a stroke every 45 seconds; someone dies every 3 minutes from stroke.
Stroke is a leading cause of serious, long-term disability that accounts for more than half of all patients hospitalized for a neurological disease.
Stroke deaths have been increasing in recent years.
Always consult your physician for more information.
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