BACKGROUND: Emergency Care Units (ECUs) were created to meet an urgent need of the Brazilian government to improve health care to low-income population. ECUs quickly became reference centers to treat chest pain in this population, due to their ability to provide prompt medical care, availability of last generation drugs and well trained staff. This study is aimed at describing the profile and inhospital follow-up of patients with acute coronary syndromes seen in these units and later referred to a tertiary hospital, where they were treated by percutaneous coronary intervention with stent implantation. METHOD: Three hundred patients were referred from ECUs to Santa Helena Hospital (Cabo Frio, RJ) from July to December, 2009. One hundred and sixty four patients (202 lesions) were treated by percutaneous intervention with stent and were divided in two groups: group I included 86 patients with acute coronary syndromes with ST segment elevation and group II included 78 patients with acute coronary syndromes without ST segment elevation. Clinical and angiographic characteristics and in-hospital major adverse cardiac events were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Clinical and angiographic characteristics were similar in both groups except for smoking. Angiographic success was obtained in 99% of the procedures. Mean hospitalization time (ECU + tertiary hospital) was 6 days. There were 6 in-hospital major adverse cardiac events, 5 in group I and 1 in group II (5.8% vs. 1.3%; P = 0.60). CONCLUSION: Late percutaneous revascularization of patients with acute coronary syndromes seen at ECUs is a safe and effective procedure, with high success and low complication rates.
Stents; Myocardial infarction; Myocardial revascularization
