April 13, 2021
Patients presenting late to the hospital with STEMI fare “remarkably” worse than people who get to the hospital within the first 12 hours after symptom onset, but late presentation in and of itself does not independently predict worse outcomes, a large, retrospective analysis from Korea confirms.
However, the nationwide data also point to a steep decline in the use of invasive procedures as time to presentation lengthened, with investigators recording a strong, inverse relationship between use of invasive procedures and mortality.
“Inverse steep differences in the use of invasive interventional procedures and mortality rates were found between the first ( 12 hours) and the second (12 to 24 hours) symptom-to-door time 12-hour interval in STEMI patients presenting at 48 hours, indicating that the practice pattern of interventional procedures might affect the clinical outcomes of STEMI late presenters,” Kyung Hoon Cho, MD, PHD (Chonnam National University H
April 13, 2021
Cardiology is playing a key role in the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin, charged on three counts for allegedly killing George Floyd last summer. During the third week of testimony, Jonathan Rich, MD (Northwestern University, Chicago, IL), became the first in the cardiology profession to take the stand in this trial.
The question for jurors is whether Chauvin’s actions, when he pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck on the asphalt for nearly 9 minutes, led directly to the 46-year-old Black man’s death. The prosecution, led by the Minnesota attorney general s office, says the answer is yes. The defense, in response, is sowing doubts about Floyd’s health by claiming that underlying heart disease was critical. Chauvin faces up to 40 years in prison if he is found guilty of second-degree murder, the most serious charge at hand.