By Jeff Hampton
The Virginian-Pilot
NORFOLK, Va. — Wireless technology is giving emergency-room doctors a look at a patient’s heart condition before arrival by ambulance, saving crucial minutes in Pasquotank and Camden counties.
Last week, Pasquotank-Camden Emergency Medical Services began using new defibrillators and laptop computers with wireless capability that allows a heartbeat chart to be sent immediately to the hospital.
Emergency-room doctors can order cardiac catheterization treatment to be ready or send the patient to a Hampton Roads hospital better equipped to handle a dire heart emergency, said Dr. Roger Gallant, medical director of the local EMS and an emergency-room doctor.
A few extra minutes can save a heart patient’s life, Gallant said.
About 325,000 people a year die of coronary heart disease in an emergency department or before reaching a hospital, according to the American Heart Association.
“This technology can definitely have a dramatic impact,” Gallant said.
In Pasquotank and Camden counties, 48 people were treated in an ambulance for chest pains in February, an average month, said Jerry Newell, director of the Pasquotank-Camden EMS. Of the 48, 32 had heart problems. Typically, about six are having a serious heart attack, he said.
In about a minute, paramedics connect 10 leads to the patient, six on the chest area and one each on the wrists and feet. The other ends of the leads connect to the new defibrillators with the wireless technology. The leads send electronic signals through the body to each other, providing up to 12 readings of what the heart is doing from several angles.
During a demonstration in an ambulance, a look at only one lead indicated the heartbeat of a 53-year-old man was fine. But a look at other leads showed problems.
A long, narrow graph exited from the defibrillator, indicating 18 seconds of a stressed heartbeat, and was e-mailed to the computer at the EMS office. In an emergency, that would also be sent to the hospital emergency room.
In a real situation, the man would have received treatment a few minutes faster than he would have last month, Newell said.
“Heart muscle tissue is dying, and time is of the essence,” he said.
Six defibrillators and six laptops, one for each ambulance, cost $230,000, Newell said.