BACKGROUNDThe lack of medical facilities causes delayed diagnosis and treatment of coronary heart disease in remote mountainous area and/or at disaster site. The miniature mobile cardiac catheterization laboratory was developed to be an intervention platform for coronary heart disease diagnosis and treatment by our team. Pre-clinical research indicated that the miniature mobile cardiac catheterization laboratory performed well in the rescue of critical cardiovascular diseases, even ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. The present study aimed to evaluate the clinical safety and timeliness of the miniature mobile cardiac catheterization laboratory for emergent coronary interventional diagnosis and treatment.

METHODSX-ray radiation safety and disinfection efficacy in the miniature mobile cardiac catheterization laboratory were tested during working status. Coronary angiography and/or percutaneous coronary intervention were performed in remote mountainous areas on patients who were first diagnosed as having coronary heart disease by senior interventional cardiologists. The percutaneous coronary intervention procedures and results from patients in the miniature mobile cardiac catheterization laboratory were compared with patients who were treated in the hospital catheter lab.

RESULTSThe X-ray radiation dosages in the miniature mobile cardiac catheterization laboratory were 39.55 µGy/s, 247.4 µGy/h, 90.3 µGy/h and 39.4 µGy/h which were corresponded to 0 m, 1 m, 2 m and 3 m away from the tube central of the medium C-arm. And the radiation dosages used in the miniature mobile cardiac catheterization laboratory were less than the corresponding positions in the hospital catheter lab. The numbers of bacteria colonies in the miniature mobile cardiac catheterization laboratory in different environments range from (60 ± 8) cfu/m(3) to (120 ± 10) cfu/m(3) and met the demands of percutaneous coronary intervention. A total of 17 patients who received angiography in the miniature mobile cardiac catheterization laboratory, eight received percutaneous coronary intervention. The operations were all successfully accomplished without intraoperative and postoperative complications. The average angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention times were 35 ± 9 minutes and 55 ± 11 minutes, respectively. There was no significant difference in immediate percutaneous coronary intervention results between the miniature mobile cardiac catheterization laboratory and the catheter lab.

CONCLUSIONSIt is safe and feasible to carry out clinical interventional diagnosis and treatment in the miniature mobile cardiac catheterization laboratory as determined by this research. The miniature mobile cardiac catheterization laboratory may be considered a newly developed diagnosis and treatment platform for rescuing coronary heart disease patients in remote mountainous areas and/or at disaster sites.