Percutaneous Coronary Intervention
Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) encompasses a variety of procedures to treat patients with diseased arteries of the heart. Your heart's arteries can become blocked from a build up of cholesterol, cells or other substances. This can reduce blood flow to your hear and cause chest discomfort. Sometimes a blood clot can form and completely block blood flow leading to a heart attack. Typically PCI is performed by guiding a slender balloon tipped tube (catheter) from an artery in the groin to a trouble spot in an artery in the heart. It is done through a small puncture in the leg artery and by inflating the balloon, the catheter can widen the narrowed coronary artery so that blood can flow more easily. This is commonly called coronary angioplasty. This is often accompanied by inserting a metal stent. Stents are wire mesh tubes use to prop open arteries after coronary angioplasty.
Volume of PCI Procedures
What are we measuring?
The number of Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (PCIs) performed annually.
Why is this important
Studies by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines have demonstrated that hospitals which perform 400 or more PCI procedures per year or more are more likely to have better outcomes.
What does our performance tell us?
The chart below shows how many PCIs are performed at BIDMC during FY 2010 compared to the recommended national guidelines.
Source of comparison data: Smith SC Jr, Feldman TE, Hirshfeld JW Jr, Jacobs AK, Kern MJ, King SB III, Morrison DA, O'Neill WW, Schaff HV, Whitlow PL, Williams DO. ACC/AHA/SCAI 2005 guideline update for percutaneous coronary intervention: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines (ACC/AHA/SCAI Writing Committee to Update the 2001 Guidelines for Percutaneous Coronary Intervention). American College of Cardiology Web Site. Available at:
http://content.onlinejacc.org/cgi/reprint/47/1/216.pdf.
BIDMC's volume of PCIs significantly exceeds the AHA/ACC Guideline of 400 procedures per year.
"Door to Balloon" Time for PCI
What are we measuring?
The percentage of heart attack patients undergoing PCI procedure within 90 minutes of arrival.
Why is this important?
Improving blood flow to your heart as quickly as possible lessens the damage to your heart muscle, and improves your chances of surviving a heart attack. The interval between the time the heart attack patient arrives at the hospital and blood flow is restored to the artery is called "Door to Balloon Time". The national benchmark is 90 minutes.
What does our performance tell us?
The chart below shows how BIDMC's performance compares to a national benchmark. Look for big differences in the scores in order to be sure the difference is meaningful. Small differences may not reflect real differences in performance (i.e., they may not be statistically significant).
Source of comparison data:
HospitalCompare, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, October, 2011.
View our performance over time
According to
Hospital Compare, in the 12-month period October 2009 through September 2010, 100% of patients having an acute heart attack at the nation's Top 10% of hospitals undergo PCI within 90 minutes of their time of arrival. At BIDMC, 100% of patients undergo PCI within 90 minutes of their time of arrival. BIDMC's performance is among the nation's Top 10% of hospitals nationwide for Door to Balloon Time for heart attack patients.
Last Updated: October 24, 2011