Successful Implementation of Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in an Iranian Population: A Single-Center Experience

Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) is the gold standard for the treatment of ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Guidelines emphasize the importance of STEMI networks in order to facilitate rapid acute reperfusion therapy and improve prognosis. The outcomes of PPCI in a single tertiary university hospital in Hormozgan Province in Iran are reported herein.

We performed an observational study including all the consecutive STEMI cases admitted to our interventional cardiology department. Symptom to door, door to ECG, door to diagnosis, door to cath lab, door to balloon, and mortality were reported. Descriptive statistics (median, quartile 1-3) and nonparametric tests (Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney) were used.

Totally, 195 patients were considered eligible for PPCI. The mean age of the patients was 54.90 years old (range =21–91 y). Women accounted for 28.2% of the study population. All the patients successfully underwent PPCI with a 100% rate of stenting. The in-hospital mortality rate was 1.45%. The median time for symptom-to-door, door-to-diagnosis, code-activation, symptom-to-device, and door-to-device times was 167.50, 23, 35, 266, and 60 minutes, respectively.

Our results, in line with previous studies, confirm the role of PPCI as the frontline approach to STEMI. Our results display the continuous efforts provided to reduce the in- hospital procedural times; nevertheless, ongoing efforts are needed to decrease symptom-to- door times.