Data being collected through CADOSA is saving lives.
Data being collected through the Coronary Angiogram Database of South Australia (CADOSA) is saving lives of those with heart disease!
Clinical Data Manager Dr Rosanna Tavella at the Basil Hetzel Institute established CADOSA in 2012 to monitor cardiac outcomes and improve patient care within SA.
CADOSA collects patient data from all SA public hospitals which perform angiogram procedures and Dr Tavella has some exciting developments to share.
“Some key findings from CADOSA include improved safety for coronary angiography procedures (X-ray imaging to determine blocked blood vessels) and secondly improved emergency cardiac care for women presenting with a heart attack,” Dr Tavella said.
“With the 14,000 angiogram procedures we’ve compared data with, we found that the procedure works best when the catheter (thin tube) is inserted into an arm artery rather than the traditional artery in the groin.
“This approach showed a reduction in all major complications and it is also safer for both younger and older patients, and particularly women.
“When we reviewed 2,000 heart attack patients over five years, we saw that the ‘door to balloon’ time, a measure of how quickly we perform a lifesaving stenting procedure, had improved over time, bringing women closer to the door to balloon time observed in men.”
Closing the Gap
The data is a great way for Dr Tavella and her team to continue their research to improve diagnosis and treatment of people with heart disease, especially for women.
“Although the CADOSA data is pleasing, gender disparities still exist and women suffer worse outcomes than men following a heart attack,” Dr Tavella said.
“It is important we continue to understand the biological (women have smaller arteries compared to men) and social bases (women may be less likely to talk to their doctor about heart disease) of these gender differences to improve the gap.”
We look forward to sharing with you further developments from CADOSA.
