Year: 2026 | Month: February | Volume: 13 | Issue: 2 | Pages: 264-274
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijrr.20260226
Outcomes of Patients Receiving Streptokinase for ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation during November 2023 - April 2024
Rayal Jhagru, Aartie Somwaru, Shripaul Rooplall
1Department of Emergency Medicine, 2Department of Internal Medicine,
Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, Georgetown, Guyana.
Corresponding Author: Rayal Jhagru
ABSTRACT
The use of streptokinase as the primary thrombolytic agent is considered to be outdated because newer drugs offer fewer complications and are easier to administer. GPHC is the national referral hospital and should offer PCI as a first-line treatment for STEMI.
Methods: The patients that presented with STEMI to the GPHC from the 1st November 2023 to the 30th April 2024 were included in this study. The researcher reviewed the charts of the patients admitted with a diagnosis of STEMI. The immediate and delayed outcomes (death, length of stay in hospital, signs of heart failure, bleeding complications, and ischemic chest pain) were documented.
Results: A total of forty-two patients were included in this study. In this study comparing streptokinase to PCI for STEMI patients, 1 out of 14 patients treated with streptokinase died, while 0 out of 25 patients treated with PCI died (p=0.07 chi-squared value) 95% confidence interval (0.03, 0.11). The most common complications of STEMI in this study were ischemic chest pains, heart failure and bleeding. Heart failure was the most prevalent complication after treatment with both streptokinase and PCI (52%). This was followed by bleeding (36%) and chest pains (21%).
Conclusion: This research has demonstrated that streptokinase did confer a higher mortality risk (7%) for patients with STEMI compared to PCI. However, while the p-value of 0.072 suggests a trend towards a higher mortality rate with streptokinase, it is not statistically significant at the standard 0.05 level.
Keywords: Thrombolysis, fibrinolytic therapy, streptokinase, percutaneous coronary intervention, angioplasty, left ventricular dysfunction, reinfarction.
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