Coronary care unit and primary percutaneous coronary intervention networks improve the standard of care: reperfusion therapy in ST elevation myocardial infarction in Serbia from 2002 to 2008

To the Editor The importance of networks to successful treatment of patients with acute myocardial infarction with ST elevation (STEMI) depends on many factors. The main prognostic factor for this group of patients is time to reperfusion therapy. As a country in transition, in Serbia, the ability to administer reperfusion therapy is still low, even though it has been increasing in recent years [1–10]. We used the data of the Hospital National Registry for Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) of Serbia (HORACS) to analyze in-hospital mortality rate in STEMI patients with respect to treatment. Patients were grouped in three categories: first, those with thrombolytic therapy (TL); second, those with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI); and third, those without reperfusion therapy. We analyzed mortality rates in relation to patients’ clinical characteristics at presentation, age, sex, Killip class and time interval from symptom onset to hospital admission.