“We have a 24/7 cath lab with an open door policy. Our cardiologist arrives at 15 minutes’ notice. Door to balloon time is less than 60-90 minutes”,
“Great, so, you can always offer a successful treatment for STEMI”
“No, that we can never guarantee.”
“Oh, It Is not the answer, I expected”
“I agree, it sounds disappointing, but. truths are less pleasing. What I am trying to say is, there are a number of factors other than the availability of a grand cath lab and agile and effortless hands, that try to reperfuse the myocardium in distress. I agree, we do save lives occasionally in a dramatic fashion. Recently we resuscitated an almost dead man with CPR and ECMO-guided PCI. But, most times it turns out to be just a customary ritual that takes us to the legal and therapeutic endpoint* of STEMI management”
*Both salvage & non-salvage
“I didn’t get you, Can you explain further?
See this curve and try to understand it yourself. (I would say, this is the ultimate curve to understand in the entire field of coronary care)
Can you guess what will be the outcome for C to B, or B to A ? In the real world, a substantial number of interventions take place at an Invisible point E beyond A Source: Gersh BJ, Stone GW, White HD, Holmes DR Jr. Pharmacological facilitation of primary percutaneous coronary intervention for acute myocardial infarction: is the slope of the curve the shape of the future? JAMA. 2005;293:979–86
Slippery slopes and edgy Interventions
At what point the patient lands up in the curve & at what point the interventional cardiologist intervenes (or does not intervene) matters the most.
The gaps between benefit and harm can change in a few strokes of time. The reperfusion tamasha can get more curious if we realize both the slope of the curve & its absolute position are dynamic. It can shift to the right or left with reference to the patient’s Initial medications, MVo2 confounders, the quantum of collateral circulation, myocardial hypoxia threshold, previous ischemic episodes, conditioning, etc. So, basically, we are reacting to events and trying to rush up things. Don’t worry about all this. Cardiologists have every expertise and equipment to tackle untoward events.
STEMI is not always myocardium under fire
Finally, and most importantly STEMI, though a cardiac emergency. all should not be equated with the house(myocardium) on fire analogy. It can also be a spontaneously aborting, settling, or evolving, self-extinguished controlled fire, and the myocardium may take it easy. All that it requires is some deep ischemic slumber. Don’t try to poke it with all our violent hardware at one go in the name of salvaging. What is required is proper CCU care to take care of potential arrhythmia, angina, or failure. One may create more damage if trying to dowse non-existing flames furiously, which expresses in the form of reperfusion Injury and no-reflow to the myocardium. (Which might have reperfused at leisure without experiencing the injury.)
It is worth pondering over this question.
Why does even an apparently well-timed primary PCI of IRA leave behind a significant LV dysfunction or even a scar? This is a clear case of “successful PCI failed reperfusion syndrome”. It is better cardiology community defines successful primary PCI with reference to predischarge LV function, not on the IRA patency and mystery endpoint called TIMI 3 flow.
Final message
Cath lab doors that are open 24/7, with experienced cardiologists may matter little if we are double-blinded against multiple scientific and non-scientific factors that are visible as well as invisible.
Counterpoint
How good is late PCI? Are you not aware benefits of the open artery hypothesis?
You need to learn a lot man, before posting such posts.
Dr.S.Venkatesan MD 