A study released this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association showing a significant decrease in heart attack deaths in the past decade is a testament to the continued increase in quality patient care and expanded treatment options driven by medical innovation. Advances in standards of care such as the Door-to-Balloon initiative to treat heart attack patients in 90 minutes or less and treatment options including angioplasty and drug-eluting stents have helped save lives and improve quality of life for countless heart disease patients, many of whom may have had little hope for survival just twenty years ago.

The data, based on risk-adjusted, 30-day outcomes, are among the strongest evidence to date showing increased quality of cardiovascular care in the United States. These gains overlap with significant growth in the number of U.S. hospitals equipped with interventional cardiology labs, from 22 percent in 1998 to 30 percent in 2005, and an increase in the number of patients undergoing procedures such as angioplasty and stenting. Clearly, quick access to interventional cardiology procedures is essential to continuing this trend toward reduced mortality.

Despite these gains, the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) emphasizes the need for ongoing efforts to continue to improve heart disease outcomes and cultivate medical innovation, particularly in light of the current health care reform debate.

SCAI Physician Quotes

"The significant advances we've seen in heart attack care, including angioplasty and the door-to-balloon initiative to treat heart attack patients more quickly, are true success stories of modern medicine," said Steven R. Bailey, MD, FSCAI, SCAI president and chief of the division of cardiology at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio. "While advances in cardiovascular care have helped save countless lives in the past decade, heart disease remains the number one killer in America. With an increased focus on health reform, it's vitally important we continue to provide innovative treatment options to save lives and improve quality of life for heart disease patients."

"Such significant reduction in death from heart attack is evidence of the tremendous advances in interventional cardiology accomplished in a short time; however, there is still opportunity for improvement," said Steven R. Bailey, MD, FSCAI, SCAI president and chief of the division of cardiology at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio. "SCAI is committed to a multidisciplinary approach to saving the lives of even more patients who suffer a heart attack by improving patient education to recognize and respond to heart attack warning signs, developing new therapies to help damaged heart muscle recover, and advancing contemporary techniques for reducing the size and impact of heart attack."

Contact:

Kathy David
SCAI
717.422.1181
kbdavid@scai.org