Clinical Guide to Primary Angioplasty PDF

Preface

Primary angioplasty for myocardial infarction has evolved over the years, first being undertaken over 20 years ago but only now gaining worldwide acceptance. The protracted roll out of primary angioplasty has been due to the real logistic difficulties in delivering a door-to-balloon time of under 90 minutes, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, both in cities and in rural areas. It is only now that more than 50% of eligible patients are being treated this way in developed health care delivery systems. We think therefore, it is timely to produce a text covering all the major issues surrounding primary angioplasty.

We hope that readers find Clinical Guide to Primary Angioplasty to be a comprehensive guide to the basis, technique, and evidence for primary angioplasty as a reperfusion strategy in acute ST segment elevation myocardial infarction. Our aim was to be very clinically oriented and relevant to everyday clinical practice and we hope we have succeeded. For cardiologists, nurses, and physiologists/ technicians actively involved in a primary angioplasty program, we hope this volume will be a useful resource providing a solid grounding in the how, what, and why of primary angioplasty. We believe providers of health care services planning a primary angioplasty service will find useful information on the logistics of how to deliver a fast, efficient, and safe treatment for the millions of individuals worldwide who suffer from acute ST segment elevation myocardial infarction every year.