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When There’s an Emergency
When a Heart Attack Hits, Speedy Response is Key
Start Screenings EarlyIn its newly updated guidelines for preventing heart attacks and strokes, the American Heart Association urges having your doctor screen you for risk factors beginning at age 20. Before now, there’s been no age recommendation. Here are the key points from the new AHA guidelines:
It happened first to Don Campolongo: he started feeling discomfort in his upper arms while carrying a suitcase. “The symptoms were not typical for angina or heart attack,” says the Campolongos’ internist, James Freeman, D.O., “but given his age, I did an EKG and a stress test.” When the tests revealed heart disease, Don promptly went to Lehigh Valley Hospital. Angioplasty cleared an 85 percent blockage in his coronary artery, and stents (tiny cylinders) were inserted to help keep the vessel open. The procedure spared him the trauma of a heart attack, but his wife was not so lucky. Out shopping later that month, Ruth suddenly began sweating profusely and having trouble swallowing. “Those were the only symptoms; there was no pain,” she says. But by the time she got home, she realized she was gravely ill. As she discovered, the emergency department at Lehigh Valley Hospital—Cedar Crest was the right place to come. A pioneering program called MI* Alert helps ensure that people like Ruth Campolongo get proper treatment as fast as humanly possible. “Research shows that angioplasty within 90 minutes of the onset of symptoms is the best way to treat a heart attack,” says D. Lynn Morris, M.D., chief of cardiology at Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network. “It can significantly reduce the mortality rate.” But most emergency rooms can’t consistently meet that 90-minute standard. “MI Alert is our way of making the 90-minute rule automatic,” says Richard MacKenzie, M.D., vice chair of emergency medicine at Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network. To streamline the process, the team did some rethinking of roles. For example, the in-house emergency doctor now calls the cath lab into action rather than waiting for the cardiologist to arrive and do so. The end result: an average “door to angioplasty” time of 89 minutes, one of the best of all hospitals reporting. Of course, the best ER is useless if the patient doesn’t get there promptly, as Ruth Campolongo did. Her condition proved to be critical. “A plaque in the coronary artery had ruptured, and the resulting clot actually split the artery wall,” MacKenzie says. “In another day and time she might not have survived.” The artery was stabilized with stents, and the patient back home in four days. Says Ruth: “I feel very, very thankful.”
Want to Know More about recognizing heart attack symptoms and learning CPR?
Call 610-402-CARE. This page last updated 2/12/08 04:08 PM
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