Regions, Methodist hospitals exceed national average for cardiac arrest response

Local door-to-balloon rates top national average

ST. PAUL, Minn. — July 1, 2015 — In cardiology, time is muscle. The faster a patient gets an artery reopened, the less the heart is damaged. Door-to-balloon rates measure the time a patient arrives at the hospital to when a doctor, using a balloon, is able to open patient’s vessel.

According to data presented in a recent New York Times article, the national door-to-balloon rate is about 61 minutes. At Regions Hospital, that number is 48 minutes and at Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital, the average is 42 minutes. And at both hospitals, procedure s are performed on more than 75 percent of patients in less than 60 minutes, a time much faster than the 90-minute benchmark recommended by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association.

“This is something that hospitals have really worked to improve over the past eight years. Door-to-balloon rates have become a mark of excellence,” said Dr. Johannes Brechtken, of Regions Hospital.

The local success is credited in part to a highly-coordinated system. Emergency responders can perform an EKG in the field. If the results signify blockage, a “Field Activation” is called. In this case, the hospital is notified, employees are paged and a room is made ready for the patient’s arrival, shaving valuable time from the process.

A cardiologist and a recent heart attack patient are available for interviews upon request. Please contact Scott Beedy at 612-248-4622 for further questions or to set up an interview.