Objectives: To investigate the impact of on-site cardiac interventional facilities on the management and outcome of patients with versus those without ST elevation acute coronary syndromes (ACS) in the Canadian-American Global Use of Strategies to Open Occluded Coronary Arteries (GUSTO) IIb population.
Methods: Data from 4605 patients were analyzed in relation to the admitting hospital's capability to perform coronary procedures (noninvasive, angiography-capable and interventional hospitals). Differences in medication use, revascularization rate and patient outcome were determined.
Results: Whereas medication use during hospitalization and at discharge differed between non-ST elevation ACS patients treated in the three groups, these were generally more comparable among ST elevation ACS patients. In both ST segment cohorts, patients treated in interventional hospitals underwent coronary procedures more often (angiography rate greater than 70% versus 40% for noninvasive hospitals) and sooner (median two to three days versus four days in noninvasive hospitals) than those treated in other hospitals. Recurrent ischemia was significantly less common in non-ST elevation ACS patients treated in interventional hospitals (32% versus 36% in angiography-capable and 40% in noninvasive hospitals, P<0.001) and tended to be less common among ST elevation ACS patients treated in interventional hospitals. Patients treated in interventional hospitals tended to have lower mortality in the non-ST elevation ACS cohort but significantly fewer died in the ST elevation ACS during hospitalization and at 30 days, six months and one year (8.8% versus 11% in angiography-capable and 15% in noninvasive hospitals, P=0.015). These differences in mortality persisted after adjustment for key baseline covariates. Separate analysis of Canadian and American patients revealed similar mortality patterns, as to the total population, in both ST segment cohorts.
Conclusions: Presence of an on-site cardiac interventional facility favourably affected the management and outcome of ACS patients in both non-ST and ST elevation cohorts.