Symptom onset-to-balloon time and mortality in the first seven years after STEMI treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention.

Objective: To evaluate the consequence of treatment delay of primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) on long-term survival.

Background: Network organisation based on early recognition, shortening prehospital time delays and procedural delays is the cornerstone of optimal clinical results in the acute phase of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Nevertheless, the evidence of a relationship between symptom onset-to-balloon time and mortality is weak, and few long-term data are available.