British heart journal
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British heart journal · May 1994
Comparative StudyEffects of spinal cord stimulation on myocardial ischaemia during daily life in patients with severe coronary artery disease. A prospective ambulatory electrocardiographic study.
Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) may be a useful additional therapy for pain in patients with therapeutically refractory angina pectoris. But doubts remain about whether it also relieves ischaemia. ⋯ SCS not only reduced symptoms but also myocardial ischaemia. Therefore, SCS appears to be both a safe and an effective therapy for patients with refractory angina.
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British heart journal · May 1994
Does pain relief with spinal cord stimulation for angina conceal myocardial infarction?
To investigate the possibility that spinal cord stimulation (SCS) used for pain relief can conceal acute myocardial infarction (AMI). ⋯ There was no evidence that SCS concealed acute myocardial infarction.
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British heart journal · May 1994
Telephone triage of cardiac emergency calls by dispatchers: a prospective study of 1386 emergency calls.
To evaluate the handling of potential cardiac emergency calls by dispatchers, to determine their final diagnosis and urgency, and to determine the value of the main complaint in predicting urgency and the ability of the dispatchers to recognise non-urgent conditions. ⋯ Currently, direct dialling for an ambulance without the intervention of a general practitioner imposes a high work load on emergency systems and hospitals because triage by dispatchers is not sufficiently accurate. It may be possible to increase the accuracy of triage by developing and testing decision algorithms.