PCI expansion speeds up treatment time

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The expansion in the use of percutaneous coronary interventional (PCI) procedures is seeing patients with acute coronary syndromes treated more quickly, according to the latest UK National Audit of PCI (covering 2012).

Published on January 30, 2014, the key findings of the public report include: the number of PCIs performed in the UK has more than doubled over the last decade; primary PCI is now the preferred treatment for heart attack patients instead of traditional clot-busting” drugs; in 2012, 86% of all patients were treated within 120 minutes of calling for professional help, and 90% treated within 90 minutes of arriving at the PCI centre – this compares very favourably with international data

The report further states that whilst overall access to PCI and primary PCI has improved, there remain large differences between the countries of the UK.

The report collected data on 92,445 PCI procedures from 97 NHS PCI centres and seven private hospitals between January and December 2012.

Peter Ludman, consultant cardiologist and clinical lead of the national audit says: “One of the key steps to maintaining and improving high quality treatment is measuring what you are doing. It is a great tribute to all PCI centres in the UK that they are dedicated to providing detailed information about the procedures they carry out, so that the information can be collated and analysed at a national level. These data provide considerable insight into the practice of PCI, showing not only how practice is evolving over the years, but also how different units compare with each other and how the UK compares with other countries.”