phillipsdo@... has sent you an article from HoustonChronicle.com

[Guest guest]

Anyone in the system on the list? I would like to know the protocol. I

thought " facilitated PCI " was no longer recommended, and E2B was the new

emphasis.

Don P

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5733456.html

Clinical trial provides clot-busting drug in ambulance

By ALEXIS GRANT

Physicians at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center have added a twist

to the door-to-balloon concept.

As part of a clinical trial being held in conjunction with Houston Fire

Department paramedics, heart attack patients who meet certain criteria

are given a clot-busting drug in the ambulance rather than at the

hospital. The patients are then treated with an angioplasty to clear

the blocked artery.

Administering the drug Retavase early may reduce mortality and heart

damage by up to 50 percent, said Dr. Smalling, professor of

cardiology at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, who is

leading the study.

Smalling, who also serves as director of interventional cardiovascular

medicine at Memorial Hermann Heart & Vascular Institute, is working to

obtain funding to enroll additional Houston hospitals in the trial.

To qualify, patients must show certain heart attack symptoms and sign a

consent form, which means they must be awake and responsive. So far,

326 people have received the treatment.

alexis.grant@...

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