Use of a Mobile Telemedicine System during the Transport of Emergency Myocardial Infarction Patients Would Be an Effective Technology in the Pre-hospital Medical Setting

Abstract

Background: We have developed a mobile telemedicine system (MTS) utilizing mobile communications via cellular phones, making it possible to continuously transmit biological information, including 12-lead electrocardiography data, from an ambulance while the patient is being transported to the destination hospital in real time. Purpose: We evaluated whether using an MTS during the transport of acute myocardial infarction patients shortens the interval between arrival at the hospital and balloon inflation to achieve reperfusion (door-to-balloon time). Two hundred eighteen consecutive AMI patients were divided into two groups: 23 patients who had been brought to the hospital in an ambulance equipped with an MTS, and 195 patients who had been brought to the hospital without the use of an MTS. Results: When the MTS group and the non-MTS group were compared, no differences in clinical characteristics , Killip class, incidence of emergency coronary angiography, culprit lesion, or prevalence of multi-vessel disease were seen. No significant differences were seen between the two groups in terms of the incidence of primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), initial angiography findings, or the degree of coronary blood flow after PCI. Regarding outcomes, no differences in the peak creatinine kinase and isozyme MB levels or in-hospital mortality were seen between the two groups. However, the door-to-balloon time was 86 minutes (median times) in the MTS group, which was significantly shorter than the 96 minutes observed in the non-MTS group (P<0.05). Conclusions: We have developed a mobile telemedicine system (MTS) and have shown its efficacy in pre-hospital medical settings.