Aggressive Measures to Decrease Door to Balloon Time May Increase the Incidence of Unnecessary Cardiac Catheterization and Delay Appropriate Care.

Abstract

Door-to-balloon (DTB) time is an important quality measure for ST-segment myocardial elevation infarction (STEMI). Aggressive measures to reduce DTB time can increase the incidence of false positive-STEMI and may increase mortality in that group. Efforts to reduce DTB time should be monitored systematically to avoid unnecessary procedures especially in critically ill patients who don't have STEMI and may benefit from other appropriate therapies in timely manner. We report two cases where trying to achieve an aggressive DTB time may have led to unwarranted outcomes.