Effect of Prehospital Digital Electrocardiogram Transmission on Revascularization Delays and Mortality in ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction Patients: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Prehospital transmission of the 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) to the interventional cardiologist has become the standard of care in many ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) networks but has not been adopted universally. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we assess the effect of prehospital digital ECG transmission in STEMI patients on door-to-device times, first medical contact-to-device times, and mortality.

Methods: We performed a systematic review of all English-language studies in MEDLINE, Embase, and CENTRAL (from inception to July 24, 2023), comparing the effect of prehospital digital ECG transmission to that of no ECG transmission in STEMI patients.