E C L A

EARLY CARDIAC CATHETERIZATION LABORATORY ACTIVATION BY PARAMEDICS
FOR PATIENTS WITH ST-SEGMENT ELEVATION MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION
ON PREHOSPITAL 12-LEAD ELECTROCARDIOGRAMS
Christopher H. Lee, MD, Carin M. Van Gelder, MD, David C. Cone, MD
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ABSTRACT
tion laboratory activation protocol based on our initial data.
Conclusion. Important reductions in time to reperfusion
seem possible by activation of the catheterization laboratory
by EMS from the scene, with an acceptably low false-positive
rate in this small sample. This type of clinical research can inform multidisciplinary policies and bring about meaningful
clinical practice changes. Key words: STEMI; emergency
medical services; electrocardiogram; heart catheterization
Background. Prompt reperfusion in ST-segment elevation
myocardial infarction (STEMI) saves lives. Although studies have shown that paramedics can reliably interpret STEMI
on prehospital 12-lead electrocardiograms (p12ECGs), prehospital activation of the cardiac catheterization laboratory
by emergency medical services (EMS) has not yet gained
widespread acceptance. Objective. To quantify the potential reduction in time to percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) by early prehospital activation of the cardiac
catheterization laboratory in STEMI. Methods. This prospective, observational study enrolled all patients diagnosed with
STEMI by paramedics in a mid-sized regional EMS system. Patients were enrolled if: 1) the paramedic interpreted
STEMI on the p12ECG, 2) the Acute Cardiac Ischemia TimeInsensitive Predictive Instrument (ACI-TIPI) score was 75%
or greater, and 3) the patient was transported to either of two
area PCI centers. Data recorded included the time of initial
EMS “STEMI alert” from the scene, time of arrival at the
emergency department (ED), and time of actual catheterization laboratory activation by the ED physician, all using
synchronized clocks. The primary outcome measure was the
time difference between the STEMI alert and the actual activation (i.e., potential time savings). The false-positive rate
(patients incorrectly diagnosed with STEMI by paramedics)
was also calculated and compared with a locally accepted
false-positive rate of 10%. Results. Twelve patients were enrolled prior to early termination of the study. The mean and
median potential time reductions were 15 and 11 minutes, respectively (range 7–29 minutes). There was one false STEMI
alert (8.3% false-positive rate) for a patient with a right bundle branch block who subsequently had a non–ST-segment
elevation myocardial infarction. The study was terminated
when our cardiologists adopted a prehospital catheteriza-
PREHOSPITAL EMERGENCY CARE 2010;14:153–158
INTRODUCTION
In the United States, more than 1 million people
have heart attacks every year, and the majority of
the heart attacks occur outside of the hospital. Public health efforts have focused on educating the public to call emergency medical services (EMS) at the first
sign of chest discomfort, as it is well established that
prompt recognition and early treatment of myocardial infarction save lives. In patients with ST-segment
elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), rapid reperfusion of myocardium with either fibrinolytic therapy or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)
significantly decreases morbidity and mortality.1,2
Current American College of Cardiology/American
Heart Association (ACC/AHA) guidelines for the
management of STEMI recommend “door-to-drug”
times of less than 30 minutes for fibrinolytic therapy
and “door-to-balloon” times of less than 90 minutes for
PCI.3 Although there have been substantial improvements in the overall care of STEMI patients in recent
years, door-to-balloon times continue to lag behind national benchmarks.4–6
Much effort has been put into identifying potential
delays in treatment, and PCI centers have incorporated successful strategies to improve door-to-balloon
times.7,8 Many of these strategies are currently in place
across the nation, where the cardiac catheterization
laboratory is activated by an emergency physician immediately upon recognition of a STEMI. Upon activation, a multidisciplinary team approach involving both
emergency department (ED) and cardiology staff is utilized to rapidly treat and transport the patient to the
catheterization laboratory. However, despite streamlining many in-hospital processes to shorten the doorto-balloon interval, many systems are now focusing
Received June 21, 2009, from Section of EMS, Department of Emergency Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven,
Connecticut. Revision received September 9, 2009; accepted for publication October 26, 2009.
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this paper.
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Dr. Christopher
H. Lee, Section of EMS, Department of Emergency Medicine, Yale
University School of Medicine, 464 Congress Avenue, Suite 260, New
Haven, CT 06519. E-mail: [email protected]
doi: 10.3109/10903120903537213
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PREHOSPITAL EMERGENCY CARE
on reducing the “first-medical-contact-to-balloon” interval, which often starts with evaluation at the scene
by EMS. Important reductions in time to reperfusion
can be achieved by earlier activation of the cardiac
catheterization laboratory by EMS through the use of
a prehospital 12-lead electrocardiogram (p12ECG).9,10
The acquisition and interpretation of a p12ECG
by EMS can have a large impact on improving
door-to-balloon times, and studies have shown
that paramedics can reliably interpret STEMI on
p12ECGs.11,12 Studies have also shown that the
use of a p12ECG is associated with a shorter time
to reperfusion therapy and decreased mortality
in the management of STEMI.10,13–19 Reductions
ranging from 10 to 50 minutes in door-to-balloon
time have been documented in the literature, but
catheterization laboratory activations by EMS have
not yet gained widespread acceptance in hospital
protocols.
One potential hurdle to prehospital activation may
be the reluctance of interventional cardiologists to
amend their protocols with an aspect of EMS they perceive to be unproven. In fact, our own cardiology colleagues did not want to change our STEMI care protocol based on the existing prehospital activation studies
in the literature; rather, they requested to see first-hand
quantitative data specific to our local system. The use
of prehospital activation as an adjunctive strategy for
reducing door-to-balloon time has been supported by
a qualitative analysis of the methods employed by
the most successful PCI centers.7 Our research study
serves as an effort to add quantitative data to the
existing qualitative research and to continue to grow
support in the literature for the implementation of
EMS cardiac catheterization laboratory activation.
In the first phase of our multiphase project, the
paramedics staffing the diverse EMS systems in our
area demonstrated that they can reliably identify
STEMI on p12ECG.20 The primary objective of the
current phase of the project was to quantify the potential reduction in time to reperfusion by prehospital activation of the catheterization laboratory. The
present study was also designed to determine the feasibility of early catheterization laboratory activation
by paramedics in our system and to estimate a falsepositive rate, i.e., the percentage of paramedic activations in which the attending emergency physician
and/or interventional cardiologist did not feel activation was warranted.
METHODS
This was a prospective, observational study conducted
in a mid-sized regional EMS system consisting of 21
EMS agencies covering 12 cities and towns, with a total
population of approximately 400,000. Inclusion criteria
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VOLUME 14 / NUMBER 2
FIGURE 1. Study inclusion criteria. ACI-TIPI = Acute Coronary Ischemia Time-Insensitive Predictive Instrument; p12ECG = prehospital 12-lead electrocardiogram; ED = emergency department; PCI =
percutaneous coronary intervention; STEMI = ST-segment elevation
myocardial infarction.
(Fig. 1) were as follows: 1) the paramedic interpreted
STEMI on p12ECG, 2) the p12ECG printout included
an Acute Coronary Ischemia Time-Insensitive Predictive Instrument (ACI-TIPI) score of ≥75%, and 3) the
patient was transported to either of the two 24-hour
PCI centers in the area. Data collection began on July
13, 2008, and continued until the study was terminated on December 1, 2008. The ACI-TIPI is a mathematical algorithm on the p12ECG that calculates the
probability of acute coronary ischemia based on patient risk factors and ECG rhythm recognition,21 and
it can be used as an adjunct to aid the paramedic’s diagnosis of prehospital STEMI. Figure 2 shows an ECG
from a study patient; the ACI-TIPI score is shown to be
97%.
At the time of the study, the standard clinical protocol for STEMI on p12ECG involved the paramedic’s
calling the receiving hospital for a “chest pain alert.”
However, while the receiving hospital took steps in
preparation to receive the patient, the cardiac catheterization laboratory was not activated until the patient
had been transported and assessed by an attending
emergency physician in the ED.
In this study, standard clinical care was not changed;
however, upon recognition of a prehospital STEMI, the
paramedic called the receiving ED for a STEMI alert.
On a data-collection form (Fig. 3), the triage nurse
receiving the STEMI alert call by telephone or radio
recorded the following: 1) the time the STEMI alert
was received, 2) the time of patient arrival at the ED,
3) the time of cardiac catheterization laboratory activation by the ED attending physician, and 4) the
time the patient left the ED for the catheterization laboratory; synchronized clocks were used for all time
points.
Our primary outcome measure, the potential time reduction with EMS activation of the catheterization laboratory, was assessed by subtracting the time of the
STEMI alert notification from the time of the actual
catheterization laboratory activation by the emergency
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Lee et al.
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PREHOSPITAL CATHETERIZATION LABORATORY ACTIVATION
FIGURE 2. Sample patient electrocardiogram (ECG), illustrating automated Acute Coronary Ischemia Time-Insensitive Predictive Instrument
(ACI-TIPI) calculation and printout. MI = myocardial infarction.
physician. This difference can be characterized as the
amount of time that could have been saved had the
cardiac catheterization laboratory been activated immediately upon the paramedic’s STEMI alert to the
ED. We also calculated a false-positive rate (proportion of patients incorrectly diagnosed with STEMI by
paramedics, as judged by either the attending emergency physician or the responding interventional cardiologist) and compared it with a locally accepted
false-positive rate of 10%. Our criterion standard for
STEMI diagnosis was the diagnosis of both the attending emergency physician and the interventional
FIGURE 3. Sample data-collection form. ED = emergency department; EMS = emergency medical services.
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PREHOSPITAL EMERGENCY CARE
cardiologist, as determined by review of the ED and
inpatient charts.
A sample size of 25 patients was planned, based on
the assessment of our cardiologists that this would be
an adequate number of patients to assess the potential
time reduction and the false-positive rate.
The institutional review boards (IRBs) of both of the
PCI hospitals approved this research, and the requirement for written consent was waived by the IRBs for
this observational study.
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RESULTS
Twelve patients were enrolled prior to early termination of the study. The time data are summarized in
Table 1. The mean and median potential time reductions were 15 minutes (standard deviation 7.4
minutes) and 11 minutes (range 7–29 minutes), respectively. There was one incorrect STEMI alert
(false-positive rate = 8.3%) for a patient with a right
bundle branch block on p12ECG who was diagnosed
with a non–ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction during his hospitalization. The study was terminated when our cardiologists adopted a prehospital
catheterization laboratory activation protocol based on
the review of the first five months of data, preventing
further data collection.
DISCUSSION
There is much interest in implementing successful
strategies for improving the care of STEMI patients
and reducing the time to reperfusion therapy. The
ACC/AHA has endorsed the concept that faster times
to reperfusion therapy and better systems of care are
associated with important reductions in morbidity and
mortality in STEMI patients.3 The acquisition and interpretation of a prehospital ECG have been identified
as an important step in reducing the transport time to
a PCI center and in earlier activation of the catheterization laboratory.3,17 There is also much discussion
regarding the visual transmission of p12ECG images
from the field to the ED physician for review, but significant financial and technologic limitations currently
limit widespread utilization of wireless image transmission.
In this study, we observed important potential reductions in reperfusion time by EMS activation of the
catheterization laboratory. Our findings of reductions
up to 29 minutes, with mean and median time reductions of 15 and 11 minutes, respectively, correlate well
with existing studies in the literature.18 We can translate our findings to clinical significance, particularly if
we consider the time of day and EMS transport time
of the cardiac catheterization laboratory activation. It
is reasonable to conclude that prehospital activation
will have more of an impact on nights and weekends
when the PCI staff is called in from home. Currently, if
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a STEMI patient arrives during these off-hours, the patient is treated in the ED until cardiac catheterization
resources are prepared to receive the patient. This process can take up to 30 minutes. However, if a prehospital activation precedes patient arrival, mobilization of
the cardiac staff can occur simultaneously with the patient en route to maximize efficiency. Ideally, this could
enable EMS to essentially transport the patient directly
to the catheterization laboratory upon their arrival at
the hospital. In general, it seems reasonable that rural
areas with long transport times would benefit the most
from earlier prehospital activation.
Over the past several years at our institution, the median times to primary PCI have improved, and many
are within the 90-minute benchmark. However, consistently there are patients with times between 100 and
115 minutes. We expect that implementing our protocol for prehospital activation will capture these patients falling just outside the 90-minute mark. Most importantly, decreasing the time to primary PCI will be
beneficial to all STEMI patients, regardless of whether
or not they fall within the 90-minute benchmark, because “time is myocardium.”
The study was terminated after five months when
our interventional cardiologists decided to adopt a
prehospital catheterization laboratory activation protocol based on our data. While they had initially indicated that 25 patients would be needed to adequately
assess the time benefits and false-positive rate, our first
interim presentation of data was met with enthusiasm
and a request to “start doing it.” Our false-positive rate
(8.3%) was deemed appropriate when compared with
our cardiologists’ locally accepted false-positive rate
of 10%. Currently, a multidisciplinary protocol involving EMS, emergency medicine, and cardiology is being
developed at our institution to refine our prehospital
STEMI activation process.
LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH
The major limitation of this study is the small sample
size. In our mid-sized system, accumulating enough
prehospital STEMI patients who meet enrollment
criteria to achieve statistical significance could take
several years. Our cardiologists instead wanted to
more quickly determine the feasibility of such a
program prior to their commitment to changing the
current STEMI care protocol. Although our numbers
are small, the findings correlate well with existing
studies in the literature. Most importantly, we believe
that the immediate clinical benefit from this potential
reduction in reperfusion time as we implement prehospital catheterization laboratory activation outweighs
the years of data collection needed to achieve statistical significance. In addition to the promising results
we found, we are greatly encouraged that this EMSdriven research study has helped to foster a mutually
Lee et al.
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TABLE 1. Summary of Time Data (Hours:Minutes)
Date (Mo/Day/Yr)
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7/13/08
7/27/08
8/4/08
9/2/08
9/10/08
9/27/08
9/28/08
9/29/08
10/25/08
11/12/08
11/13/08
12/1/08
STEMI Alert
Time
ED Arrival
Time
17 : 28
21 : 47
20 : 01
22 : 30
16 : 13
23 : 53
19 : 24
11 : 27
14 : 38
10 : 43
1 : 29
17 : 21
17 : 34
21 : 57
20 : 04
22 : 52
16 : 15
0 : 00
19 : 28
11 : 33
14 : 45
10 : 44
1 : 34
17 : 44
Catheterization Laboratory
Activation
Time
Patient Departure
Time
17 : 35
21 : 58
18 : 02
22 : 24
22 : 52
16 : 35
0 : 06
19 : 35
11 : 35
15 : 00
10 : 52
1 : 40
17 : 50
23 : 11
17 : 20
0 : 25
20 : 08
11 : 50
15 : 12
11 : 18
2 : 02
17 : 59
Time Savings (STEMI
Alert
Time – Activation Time)
0:07
0:11
False positive
0:22
0:22
0:13
0:11
0:08
0:22
0:09
0:11
0:29
Range 7–29 minutes.
Mean 15 minutes (SD ±7.4).
Median 11 minutes.
ED = emergency department; SD = standard deviation; STEMI = ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.
beneficial interdisciplinary collaboration between
EMS, emergency medicine, and cardiology.
Another limitation inherent in the collection of timedependent data involves ensuring the accuracy of the
recorded times. Reasonable efforts were made to minimize the potential bias associated with this type of
data collection in a busy ED. The triage nurse receiving the incoming EMS patch was the only person designated to record times on the data sheet. Additionally,
there are three large synchronized clocks in the ED that
are highly visible from each patient care area. Despite
these precautions, it is difficult to ensure the complete
accuracy of recorded times as the triage nurse often has
multiple duties, particularly during a cardiac catheterization activation. However, the four time points on
the data sheet are times that our nurses are required to
record for nursing documentation, independent of our
research project. In this way, it is our hope that the potential inaccuracies of time documentation were minimized.
CONCLUSIONS
Important reductions in time to primary PCI in STEMI
patients may result from the use of a prehospital ECG
and subsequent cardiac catheterization laboratory activation by paramedics in the field. The data from our
study directly led to a significant change in clinical
practice much earlier than we had anticipated, and
demonstrate the significant value of research in fostering multidisciplinary cooperation.
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