Serbia: coronary and structural heart interventions from 2010 to 2015

Abstract

Serbia's interventional community has been facing the multifaceted challenge of an ageing population with cardiovascular diseases as the primary cause of death nationwide, coronary artery disease (CAD) being the most prevalent subset. The following two fields of activity have marked the trajectory of progress in the field of interventional cardiology in Serbia: first, the expansion of the infrastructure, mainly through the opening of new catheterisation laboratories across all of the country's administrative regions, which has resulted in better accessibility to coronary interventions for the general population; second, the creation of national platforms for continuous education, training and the promotion of clinical research in interventional cardiology, with close programmatic links to European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI)-based educational initiatives, including the curriculum for interventional cardiology. As growth seems to be inherent to the concept of progress, we report here on the expanding numbers of coronary interventions in the period between January 2010 and December 2015, and the early experiences with structural heart interventions in Serbia.

Temporal Trends in Acute Coronary Syndrome Mortality in Serbia in 2005–2019: An Age–Period–Cohort Analysis Using Data from the Serbian Acute Coronary Syndrome Registry (RAACS)

“…Organizing non-PCI hospitals, ambulance, CCUs and PCI centers across Serbia in one network for the management of ACS patients evidently reduced mortality. The increased number of pPCIs improved patient survival [ 33 ]. In Serbia, however, the overall proportion of untimely reperfused eligible STEMI patients remains high.…”

“…The first period reflects the increased number of coronary care units, the introduction of streptokinase and the increased use of thrombolytic therapy. The second period showed improvements due to successful implementation of the Stent for Life initiative starting from 2009, together with the organization of coronary care units, pPCI networks and emergency medical systems [ 8 , 33 ].…”