The STAFF studies of the first 5 minutes of percutaneous coronary angioplasty balloon occlusion in man

The Staff Studies comprise a database of 228 patients undergoing elective 5 minute coronary artery balloon occlusion angioplasty at a single center in the pre-stent era in whom standard and high-frequency electrocardiographic and nuclear information was obtained immediately before, during and after balloon occlusion. The data were then analyzed by multiple investigators at different international academic centers from different perspectives. Simulating in a clinical setting the first 5 minutes of a heart attack, this database, now in digital format, is the largest database to date documenting standard and high-frequency ECG changes from the onset and for 5 minutes during acute coronary artery occlusion, with resting and occlusion imaging in a subset of these patients. The history, methodology, and legacy of these studies are discussed in this paper.