Door-to-balloon time
The time between a patient arriving at the hospital and receiving primary or secondary angioplasty after a heart attack. The recommended time is 90 minutes or less. Coronary angioplasty widens a blocked artery, allowing the blood to reach the heart and provide oxygen to the tissues. If no oxygen reaches the heart, then the muscle will die, making a fatal heart attack more likely. An increasing number of hospitals now offer angioplasty as the first treatment for acute myocardial infarction (heart attack).
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