One-Third of severe heart attack patients have treatment delays

[HealthDay News, September 19, 2011] More than a third of patients who experience a severe heart attack are delayed in getting the emergency artery-opening intervention they require, according to a new study by the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation.

Delays typically result from the fact that only a quarter of American hospitals are able to perform life-saving angioplasties.

"While we are making tremendous progress, delays are still occurring during the transfer process," study senior author Dr. Timothy D. Henry, director of research at the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, said in an American Heart Association news release. Read more.