Door-to-balloon time in the treatment of ST segment elevation myocardial infarction in a tertiary care center in Saudi Arabia.

Background: Atherosclerotic heart disease is still a leading cause of mortality despite improvements in cardiovascular care. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is the recommended reperfusion therapy in acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), and the international guideline is to achieve a door-to-balloon (D2B) time within 90 minutes of patient arrival to an emergency department (ED).

Objectives: Describe interventions, data for the study period, challenges in ensuring 24/7 patient access to PCI and quality indicators.

High prevalence of coronary artery calcification in Saudi patients with normal myocardial perfusion.

Background: Normal single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) has a high negative predictive value for ischemic heart disease. Thus, the presence of subclinical coronary atherosclerosis detected by coronary artery calcification (CAC) score in patients who have under-gone SPECT MPI is unknown.

Objectives: Determine the prevalence of coronary artery calcification (CAC) in patients with normal SPECT MPI and examine the association of CAC with conventional coronary artery disease (CAD) risk factors.