Faster response times will reduce heart attack fatalities in hospitals, according to a recent study.

Every year, about 1.1 million Americans suffer a heart attack, and about 460,000 of the attacks are fatal. About half of those deaths occur within one hour of the start of symptoms.

Balloon angioplasty, in which doctors use a catheter to unblock an artery, is currently the preferred method of treatment. The time it takes hospitals to examine patients and get them to the catheter lab can range from 55 to 120 minutes.

Researchers have designed a new method to reduce "door to balloon" time by providing hospitals with ways to improve performance.

The study team identified where time is lost, and came up with standardized measures that can drop the slowest response time down to 90 minutes.

After analyzing 365 hospitals' treatment procedures, co-authors Elizabeth Bradley, PhD and Harlan Krumholz, MD devised several strategies that can help reduce response time:

• Hospitals should always have a cardiologist on site.

• Hospitals should have a central operator on staff that is prepared to quickly alert an angioplasty team.

• Emergency room doctors should activate the catheter lab upon hearing from paramedics that a heart attack victim is en route.

• The angioplasty team should be prepared to arrive at the catheter lab within 20 minutes of being paged.

• Cases should be reviewed immediately, so that staff can receive feedback about their performance.

The American Heart Association is sponsoring a program to encourage hospitals across the US to implement the procedural guidelines.