Reducing the Wire Crossing Time in Primary Percutaneous Coronary Angioplasty: A Study From a Tier II City in India

Acute coronary syndrome is a major cause of morbidity and mortality all over the world. Timely intervention in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in the form of primary angioplasty is the gold standard of treatment to reduce mortality and morbidity. "Time is muscle" is the phrase to impress upon the importance of time in treating patients with STEMI. Traditional treatment target included "door to balloon time" of 90 min or less. This "door to balloon time" is now rephrased as the "wire crossing time" (WCT). The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) updated its guidelines further, reducing the target of wire crossing time to 60 min. The present study is a brief report on the door to wire crossing time status in one of the tertiary care centers of a nonmetro city. Retrospective analysis of case records was done for 79 patients admitted with acute MI who underwent primary angioplasty between November 2018 and June 2019 (pre-corrective action group). Various reasons for the delay, right from the time of the patient reaching the emergency room (ER) to the time of wire crossing, were analysed and measures were taken to reduce the delay. The post-corrective action group comprised 77 patients. The major causes of a prolonged WCT in our setup were delayed diagnosis of STEMI in ER, delay in giving consent by the patient's relatives, financial issues, and availability of cath lab technicians during the off-duty hour. The delay in WCT in our center was 121 min. Remedial actions were taken to mitigate the problems at each step, which resulted in a reduction of delay by 20 min, i.e., to 101 min leading to a significant difference in the outcome in view of morbidity and mortality.