Door-to-balloon time measures how long it takes before a heart attack patient receives primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or balloon angioplasty upon entering the door of the hospital.
It is an important quality measure as reducing door-to-balloon time saves time and lives. At present, the international standards developed by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) states that hospitals should achieve a door-to-balloon time of 90 minutes or less.
In 2007, NUHCS' Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI): Mean door-to-balloon time was 86.2 mins. In 2008, it was decreased to 69.6 minutes, 20.4 minutes below the international rate. It was 70 mins in 2009,76 mins in 2010 and 80 mins in 2011. Our mean door-to-balloon time is calculated in minutes, either starting from the patient's arrival at the hospital to PCI in patients with ST elevation or Left bundle branch block (LBBB) on ECG performed closest to hospital arrival time.
The rate of ‘Initiation of PCI: Door-to-balloon time within 90 mins' for NUHCS was 76.7% in 2008. The rate of PCI was 85% in 2009, 80% in 2010 & 2011. This is derived by calculating the percentage of patients who received PCI within 90 mins of the presentation of a heart attack over the total number of heart attack patients who receive PCI.
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