interhospital transfer of cardiac patients does air transport make a difference introduction the purpose of this study was to compare the outcome of interhospital transported cardiac patients for whom bias in selecting transport mode was removed due to helicopter unavailabilitymethods patients with the diagnosis of unstable angina or myocardial infarction who underwent transport by ground only because helicopter transport was not available were compared to patients transported by helicopter patients were matched by gender and referring hospital ninetysix patients were studied and both groups were comparable in age diagnosis killip classification treatment with thrombolytics and posttransport proceduresresults there were no statistically significant differences between the groups for mean icu days 53 air vs 35 ground and mean hospital days 99 vs 82 respectively no differences were detected in the proportions of deaths within 72 hours of arriving at the receiving institution 148 air vs 048 ground but air transportation was associated with more total deaths 948 vs 148 respectivelyconclusion it appears that the interhospital transport of cardiac patients by air offers no outcome advantage over ground transport