KFSH cuts heart attack artery-reopening time to 79 minutes

King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre said it reached a median 79-minute door-to-balloon time for STEMI patients in 2025, beating the 90-minute target and improving from 96 minutes in 2010. The result underscores how an integrated emergency-to-cath lab pathway can speed treatment for heart attack patients in Riyadh and beyond.

Why it matters: - Faster door-to-balloon times can mean less heart muscle damage for patients with STEMI, the most time-sensitive type of heart attack. - KFSH’s performance shows how coordinated emergency cardiac care can shorten the interval between hospital arrival and reopening a blocked artery. - The program strengthens KFSH’s role as a referral center for urgent, complex cardiac cases transferred from other facilities.

What happened: - King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre said its median door-to-balloon time for STEMI patients was 79 minutes in 2025. - The result beat the 90-minute target and improved from 96 minutes in 2010. - An integrated program and a cardiac catheterization lab inside the Emergency Department helped reduce the time from arrival to artery reopening. - KFSH is the only accredited Chest Pain Center with PCI in Saudi Arabia.

The details: - The accreditation comes from the American College of Cardiology Foundation. - The program combines emergency medicine, cardiology, catheterization laboratory services, and evidence-based protocols. - Clinical teams coordinate care from arrival through diagnosis and intervention. - The model is designed to reduce delays during a period when every minute can affect clinical outcomes. - KFSH has also built pathways for patients transferred in for urgent cardiac intervention. - Executive Director of the Heart Center of Excellence Dr. Hani Alsergani said the model aims to accelerate diagnosis and treatment, improve patient safety, and reduce complications tied to delayed restoration of coronary blood flow. - Dr. Alsergani said the approach reflects a shift from treating emergency cardiac care as a single procedure to managing the full patient journey as one coordinated pathway.

Between the lines: - The 79-minute median suggests the hospital is operating below a widely used international benchmark for timely STEMI treatment. - Accreditation and standardized workflows appear to be doing more than signaling quality. They are translating into measurable speed gains. - The ED-based cath lab likely matters most because it removes handoffs and compresses the time between arrival and treatment.

What's next: - KFSH is likely to continue using its integrated pathway for both walk-in STEMI patients and transfers needing urgent intervention. - The hospital’s broader performance and accreditation profile may help reinforce its position as a regional destination for advanced cardiac care. - KFSH was ranked first in the Middle East and Africa and 12th globally among the world’s top 250 academic medical centers for 2026. - Brand Finance named KFSH the most valuable healthcare brand in the Kingdom and the Middle East for 2026. - Newsweek included KFSH in its 2026 lists of the World’s Best Hospitals, World’s Best Smart Hospitals, and World’s Best Specialized Hospitals.

The bottom line: - KFSH is showing that emergency heart attack care can be both faster and more coordinated, with a 79-minute median treatment time setting a strong operational benchmark.