Inside the cardiac unit: what happens in the first 90 minutes
From the ambulance bay to the cath lab, a look at the pathway that gives heart attack patients their best odds.
In a heart attack, muscle dies by the minute. The international standard is to open the blocked artery within 90 minutes of arrival — what clinicians call door-to-balloon time.
At Deem Hospital, the clock starts in the ambulance. Our paramedics transmit a 12-lead ECG ahead of arrival, so the cath lab team is assembling while the patient is still on the road.
On arrival, the patient bypasses general triage entirely. Bloods, aspirin and a second ECG happen in the resuscitation bay in under ten minutes.
The interventional cardiologist then threads a catheter from the wrist to the coronary artery, finds the blockage on live imaging, and opens it with a balloon and stent.
Recovery begins immediately afterwards in the coronary care unit, and continues in our outpatient cardiac rehabilitation programme for twelve weeks.
Our median door-to-balloon time last year was 62 minutes.
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