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This Article Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Takamiya, Y. Articles by Blend, M. PubMed Articles by Takamiya, Y. Articles by Blend, M.

Effective utilization of myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) to reduce hospital (HOSP) costs for intermediate risk acute chest pain & pre-surgical patients (PTs)

¹ Nuclear Medicine, St James Hospital, Chicago Heights, Illinois; ² Nuclear Medicine, University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois

2001

Objectives: Large numbers of pts with acute chest pain syndrome with no or minimum health insurance coverage are admitted to hosp.Intermediate risk pts require immediate cardiac care, which impacts costs in time when reimbursement for these pts is decreasing.This study was to develop pt care pathway & PACS to maximize immediate care for reducing pt’s hosp stay & costs.

Methods: This project was a co-op effort among cardiologists, stress lab, CCU & nuclear medicine. Tc99m gated MPI was performed on all intermediate risk chest pain & high risk pre-surgical pts within 24 hrs of admission & preliminary results were provided to physician within 2 hrs of completion of the test.795 pts (415 F,380 M) with age range of 18-95 yrs (mean 58) underwent a 1day rest & stress (exercise or pharmacologic)gated SPECT MPI. rest/stress dose of 10/30 mCi of Tc99m Myoview was used.Siemens E-Cam with 4DMS Software was used to reconstruct orthogonal views.

Results: 628 pts had negative MPI findings & were discharged <24 hrs of exam.103 pts had positive MPI findings & were immediately sent to angiogram & discharged <2 days.56 pre-surgical pts with negative MPI findings went to surgery <24 hrs.8pts with positive MPI & angiogram findings went on to have CABG.

Conclusions: Significant number of intermediate risk acute chest pain pts were discharged in <24 hrs of MPI which represents an improvement over past hospital stays for these pts compared with historical data.Analysis of historical data reveals an average stay of 3days compared with the 1day stay using new pathway.High risk pre-surgical pts with negative MPI results were immediatly sent to surgery.These data suggest a significant reduction in hosp costs & stays.

This Article Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Takamiya, Y. Articles by Blend, M. PubMed Articles by Takamiya, Y. Articles by Blend, M.