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Nov 21, 2005 9:47 am US/Central
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Beating 'The Golden Hour'
by Dennis Douda
Robbinsdale, Minn. (WCCO) ―
Heart attack victims are given a second chance at life daily at Abbott Northwestern, at the Level One Center, which features a program unique to the hospital.
WCCO-TV's Dennis Douda got a look behind the scenes at this new program that has increased heart attack survival rate by more than 50 percent.
As a helicopter carrying a patient with a heart condition races toward the Minneapolis area, doctors know the history of the patient's heart from a special fax and computer database.
"The patient is suffering a heart attack with ongoing chest discomfort," said Dr. Michael Mooney. "This is a time period where patients are at risk from death."
The Level One Heart Attack team is in a "splash and go" mode.
"'Splash and go' means we move quickly here," Mooney said.
The majority of deaths from heart attack occur suddenly and quickly.
"A third of patients never make it to effective treatment and we're trying to improve on that," said Mooney.
The patient's survival depends on a window of opportunity called "the golden hour". The heart muscle starts to die within 80 minutes after it stops getting blood.
A 47-year-old man is flown in from Cambridge, Minn. after suffering severe chest pain and numbness in his left arm and fingers. The flight crew kept him stable and comfortable.
"En route, we just kept asking him how his pain level was and he said it was a one to two and we just gave him morphine and nitroglycerin to help with his pain level," said the pilot of the helicopter.
After unloading from the chopper and a ride down a secure elevator, the patient arrived in the cath lab which was prepped and ready.
"Usually we try to have a couple of pumps available," said Nurse Michael Hammer. "A lot of them need support from pressors and stuff because their blood pressure is compromised with the blocked artery."
Within minutes, a doctor threaded a tiny catheter through an artery, from the groin to the heart. He then injected a dye to look for clots that caused the heart attack.
"We're not seeing a major blockage here that results in a stent, which is really good news for you," said Mooney.
It is good news only if the patient stops smoking. He has been a smoker for 17 years.
Just hours earlier, the news was a bit more startling for another 47-year-old heart attack patient, Sam.
"I was sitting at home and just felt a heaviness or a pressure on my chest," said Sam, of Faribault, Minn.
Sam suffered a heart attack after a clot completely shut off blood supply to an artery.
"And that's followed by a stent going in right now," said Dr. Tim Henry, an architect of Level One.
Henry said that a stent opened up Sam's artery and prevented the muscle at the bottom of the heart from dying.
"So the total time from when he was presented to the Faribault emergency department, until the artery was opened was 84 minutes, which is amazing considering Faribault is about 60 miles away," Henry said.
There is a close relationship between Abbott Northwestern and 30 other Minnesota hospitals for the Level One program to succeed. In one year, the program has increased heart attack survival by more than 50 percent.
So far, it is the only program of its kind in the nation.
(© MMV, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)