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| Photomicrograph of a thrombus showing fibrin (yellow), red blood cells (red) and platelets (blue). |
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Managing Patients with Acute Coronary Syndromes
There is a considerable amount of variation in the management of Acute Coronary Syndromes among countries, geographic regions in the U.S., across medical specialties, among patients of differing race and gender, and between young and old patients. This has heightened the interest in developing and communicating contemporary guidelines for clinical practice and regular updating of local hospital protocols and critical pathway maps.1 Further, the limited number and cost of care associated with cardiac intensive care beds has fueled interest in identifying alternatives to the CCU for patients in whom an MI is excluded or MI patients deemed to be at low risk for a catastrophic problem.1
It is with this in mind that the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association has issued guidelines noting that the optimal management of a patient with an Acute Coronary Syndrome has two objectives:2
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The immediate relief of ischemia |
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The prevention of serious adverse outcomes (i.e., reinfarction or death)
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