Safety and feasibility of patient transfer by helicopter for primary percutaneous coronary intervention
Jonathon M White, Ryan Howard, Richard Goldsmith, Nigel Harrison, Samuel P Johanson, Mark W I Webster, Jim T Stewart, John A Ormiston, Peter N Ruygrok
Patients presenting to Whangarei Hospital with a heart attack have traditionally not had access to emergency stent treatment, which is known to be superior to medical treatments in heart attacks due to sudden coronary occlusion. We established a protocol for the emergency helicopter transfer of patients in need of urgent stenting to Auckland Hospital and reviewed the transfer times and clinical outcomes of these patients. We found that, although only one third of patients achieved guideline-accepted transfer goals, transfer times were similar to international registries. A further one third of patients were within 15 minutes of meeting the targeted transfer time. The short-term outcomes in this patient group were good.
