Early Access to Patients with Life‑threatening Cardiovascular Disease by an Air Ambulance Service

The purpose of this study was to determine whether use of an air ambulance service using a helicopter with a critical care physician and nurse on board（doctor helicopter service; DHS）could shorten the prehospital delay. We evaluated the initial treatment time and the transport time in 30 patients transported by DHS and 30 patients transported by ground ambulance service（GAS） . The initial treatment time was significantly shorter in the DHS group（11.3＋ －5.4 min）than in the GAS group（29.5＋ －15.3 min） . But the transport time in the DHS group（26.1＋ －8.6 min）was not different from that in the GAS group. The difference in the initial treatment time was remarkable for patients transported from distant areas（12.7＋ －5.6 min for DHS and 42.1＋ －13.8 min for GAS）and DHS shortened the initial treatment time by 30 min compared with GAS. The transport time was shorter for DHS （30.5＋ －9.9 min） than for GAS （42.1＋ －13.8 min） for patients transported from distant areas but it was not significantly different for patients transported from nearby areas（22.3＋ －5.0 min for DHS and 18.4＋ －2.4 min for GAS） . In conclusion DHS is important in the management of life‑threatening cardiovascular diseases and has a significant impact when GAS cannot transport a patient to the hospital within 20 min. （J Nippon Med Sch 2004; 71: 352―356）