Organisation of reperfusion therapy for STEMI in a developing country

Objective: Routine evaluation of performance measures for the system of care for patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is needed to improve the STEMI network. We sought to evaluate the current status of reperfusion therapy for STEMI in the capital city of a developing country where a STEMI network was introduced in 2010.

Methods: Data were obtained from a local registry. A total of 28 812 patients admitted to the emergency department of a national cardiovascular hospital in three different periods (2007, 2010 and 2013) were retrospectively analysed; there were 2703 patients with STEMI.

Results: In 2013 compared with 2007, there was a major increase in the number of primary percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) (35% vs 24%, p<0.001), and the proportion of non-reperfused patients fell (62.8% vs 67.7%, p<0.001). An improvement in the overall STEMI mortality rate was also observed (7.5% vs 11.7%, p<0.001).

Conclusions: Implementation of a regional system of care for STEMI may improve utilisation of primary PCI. Future organisation of reperfusion therapy in a developing country such as Indonesia strongly calls for a strategy that focuses on prehospital care to minimise delay from the first medical contact to reperfusion therapy, and this may reduce the proportion of non-reperfused patients. These strategies are in concordance with guideline recommendations and may reduce or eliminate gaps in healthcare in developing countries, particularly the underutilisation of evidence-based therapies for patients with STEMI.

Trial registration number: NCT 02319473, Clinicaltrials.gov.