Incidence of and reasons for excluding patients with acute myocardial infarction from thrombolytic therapy.

The percentage of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) who were eligible for thrombolytic therapy was evaluated prospectively, with analysis of the causes for exclusion, in 857 patients with AMI hospitalized in the Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, in 1988. Thrombolytic therapy was given to 127 patients (14.8%); 99 patients were treated with tissue plasminogen activating factor and 28 patients received streptokinase. Three hundred and sixty patients (42.0%) were rejected because of age (greater than 72 years). Other reasons for exclusion were duration of pain lasting for more than 4 h (28.5%), unknown time of onset of the chest pain (9.7%), absence of ST elevation on admission ECG (8.1%), systemic hypertension (4.4%), and presence of severe congestive heart failure upon admission (10.1%). Restricting thrombolytic therapy only to patients less than 72 years old with chest pain duration of 4 h limits the impact of this treatment on the general welfare of patients with AMI. By raising the age limit and extending the time interval between pain onset and treatment initiation, adding newer indications, and enhancing public awareness for early arrival to hospital, the benefit of thrombolytic therapy may be made available to more patients with AMI.