Final answer:
The correct answer is 'd. no longer than 90 minutes'. Door-to-balloon time is a critical measure for STEMI patients, important for improving outcomes by restoring blood flow as quickly as possible.
Step-by-step explanation:
The recommended emergency department (ED) door-to-balloon inflation time for a ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patient is no longer than 90 minutes. This guideline is established to ensure rapid treatment of STEMI patients, which involves the mechanical dilation of the blocked coronary artery using a balloon catheter, a process known as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
Door-to-balloon time is a critical metric in evaluating the quality of care for heart attack patients. It measures the time from a patient's arrival at the hospital to the time when a balloon is inflated within the blocked artery. It is recommended that this time should not exceed 90 minutes because the quicker the blood flow is restored, the better the chances are for saving the heart muscle and improving the patient's outcome.
While end diastolic volume (EDV) or preload is the amount of blood in the ventricles at the end of atrial systole just prior to ventricular contraction, and end systolic volume (ESV) is the amount of blood remaining in each ventricle following systole, these terms are related to the heart's functioning but do not directly correlate with the specific door-to-balloon time metric for STEMI treatment.