No advantage of ambulance over hospital anti-clot therapy
In contrast to European and American guidelines that recommend pre-hospital antiplatelet therapy for heart attack patients suffering from ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), a new study presented at ESC Congress1 suggests this practice has no advantage over waiting for in-hospital treatment. "Pre-hospital administration is common practice -- despite the lack of definite evidence for its benefit," said study investigator Dr Elmir Omerovic, PhD, from Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden. "But our study -- which is the largest cohort study conducted so far -- adds to some previous evidence suggesting there is potential for harm. In fact, inadvertent prehospital administration of these drugs to patients with contraindications to antithrombotic therapy is common. Therefore, considering all current evidence, we think pre-hospital administration should be discouraged." The retrospective study used data from the Swedish Coronary Angiography a...