Guidelines
Contents
According to the guidelines of the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association, primary PCI is a class I indication in patients with myocardial infarction with ST-segment elevation who can undergo the procedure within 12 hours after the onset of symptoms, provided the procedure is performed in a timely manner (balloon inflation or stent placement or both within 90 minutes after the first medical contact) by experienced operators (those who perform more than 75 interventional procedures per year) in a facility in which more than 200 coronary interventional procedures are performed each year (at least 36 of them being primary in nature) and which has a cardiac surgical capability, in case such surgery is required. Similarly, the European Society of Cardiology considers primary PCI the preferred reperfusion strategy for patients with myocardial infarction with ST-segment elevation (as a class I indication).
Comments 1
Author
If there is any area where primary PCI is of particular value, it is in STEMI. No other procedure promises better and/or quicker myocardial reperfusion, and this discussion illustrates this very well.