ABC | Volume 112, Nº4, April 2019

Original Article Balk et al Transfer time in STEMI patients Arq Bras Cardiol. 2019; 112(4):402-407 Figure 1 – Map of the metropolitan area of Porto Alegre, illustrating the regions by names and mean patient transport time to the Institute of Cardiology, University Foundation of Cardiology (IC-FUC). Figure 2 – Comparison of median delta T between patients transferred from other institutions and self-referred patients. 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 Patients transferred by the public patient transport system (group A) Self-referred patients (group B) p < 0.001 Median delta T (minutes) medical and transport services, in obtaining authorization from the emergency medical services for ambulance services and in patients’ transportation itself. According to the Brazilian guidelines, PTCA is the preferred option for coronary reperfusion, if initiated within 90 minutes from diagnosis of STEMI or within 120 minutes in case of patients referred for therapy at other centers. 8 It is worth pointing out that, in patients treated with PTCA, for each 30 minutes of delay, relative risk for mortality increases 7.5%. 12 404