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Every year over half a million Americans suffer an ST elevated myocardial infarction or STEMI. This is a very dangerous type of heart attack that blocks or impedes blood flow to the heart causing a third of sufferers to die within 24 hours without the intervention of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention or PCI. PCI treatments include both balloon angio or stent placement to clear the blood flow blockage and provide the heart with the regular blood flow that it requires to avoid damage. As the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association recommend a 90 minute “door to balloon” time, treatment seems rather obvious and straight forward. If you or your loved one were suffering from a STEMI type of heart attack, you would obviously want the essential PCI treatment to begin immediately. Best case scenario, your heart attack is diagnosed as being STEMI while you are still on your way to your area’s heart hospital, paramedics alert the cardio team that PCI treatment is needed and by the time you arrive, they’re set up and ready for you with a minimum loss of time during which the heart is being damaged. Unfortunately this isn’t the case. A STEMI type heart attack is most often not diagnosed until after the patient has arrived causing substantial delays in treatment, often well beyond that desired 90 minute “door to balloon” recommendation. LIFENET STEMI, named a “hot product” as early as 2008 by the Journal of Emergency Medical Services, has radically changed the time taken to diagnose a STEMI patient and begin PCI treatment. The LIFEPAK 12 defibrillator/monitor gives paramedics in the field and on route to the hospital the ability to send via broadband diagnostic quality cardiac information well before their arrival. The information is distributed through the internet to all of the relevant heart hospital departments including emergency room computers, cardiac catheter labs and even directly to the cardiologists hand held device. With this type of advance diagnosis, LIFENET allows the cardiac team to determine what type of heart attack they are facing and set up for the appropriate treatment before the ambulance even arrives. With a 90 minute window for optimum heart health after suffering a STEMI type heart attack, LIFENET STEMI makes every single second count and when it’s you or your loved ones life on the line, those seconds are precious.
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