UMass Med Center Using Cell Phones To Save Lives
(CBS4) BOSTON There's an exciting new way to save lives of certain kinds of heart attack patients. Cell phones are being used in local ambulance services to transmit EKGs to UMass Memorial Medical Center, shortening the precious minutes between a heart-attack patient's arrival at the hospital and the insertion of a stent.
Spencer Rescue is among a dozen central Massachusetts communities now using cell phones to transmit 12-lead EKGs to UMass Memorial Medical Center. That shortens "door-to-balloon time" precious minutes between arrival at the hospital and insertion of a stent, or balloon, to restore blood flow for certain heart attack patients. The national standard is 90 minutes.
"Since July, for example, our mean and median times from door to balloon are about 57, 58 minutes which is a national benchmark," said Dr. Peter Paige of UMass Memorial Medical Center.
Have there been instances where this could have saved the life of a patient?
"There was actually a very interesting case approximately a month ago," Paige said. "They knew right away. Said 'you're having a heart attack sir.'"
Tim Burnham of Marlboro was at work when it happened. The ambulance crew transmitted his EKG to UMass. A doctor picked up the transmission and readied a team of doctors and nurses for the ambulance.
Burham's ambulance got to the hospital and was taken into the cardiac lab unconscious. He was resuscitated, got a stent put in and walked out of the hospital five days late.
"It saved my life," he said of the cell-phone transmission.
(CBS4) BOSTON There's an exciting new way to save lives of certain kinds of heart attack patients. Cell phones are being used in local ambulance services to transmit EKGs to UMass Memorial Medical Center, shortening the precious minutes between a heart-attack patient's arrival at the hospital and the insertion of a stent.
Spencer Rescue is among a dozen central Massachusetts communities now using cell phones to transmit 12-lead EKGs to UMass Memorial Medical Center. That shortens "door-to-balloon time" precious minutes between arrival at the hospital and insertion of a stent, or balloon, to restore blood flow for certain heart attack patients. The national standard is 90 minutes.
"Since July, for example, our mean and median times from door to balloon are about 57, 58 minutes which is a national benchmark," said Dr. Peter Paige of UMass Memorial Medical Center.
Have there been instances where this could have saved the life of a patient?
"There was actually a very interesting case approximately a month ago," Paige said. "They knew right away. Said 'you're having a heart attack sir.'"
Tim Burnham of Marlboro was at work when it happened. The ambulance crew transmitted his EKG to UMass. A doctor picked up the transmission and readied a team of doctors and nurses for the ambulance.
Burham's ambulance got to the hospital and was taken into the cardiac lab unconscious. He was resuscitated, got a stent put in and walked out of the hospital five days late.
"It saved my life," he said of the cell-phone transmission.
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