Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Acute Myocardial Infarction

1998; Springer Nature; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/978-1-4615-5715-9_5

2542-8373

Kelly Anne Spratt, Tanya Y. Huehns, Robert L. Wilensky,

Cardiac Arrest and Resuscitation

Each year in the United States alone, one and a half million patients suffer an acute myocardial infarction while the annual cost for the prevention and treatment of this illness is estimated to be over 50 billion dollars [ 1,2]. The cost is increasing but has been associated with a significant decrease in the mortality rate from 30% three decades ago to less than 8% in the late 1990s. The reduction in mortality can be attributed to several factors: the recognition that early arrhythmias are a major cause of early death and the subsequent development of coronary care units in the 1960s, the recognition of the important role thrombus plays in the pathophysiology of acute myocardial infarction, which led to aggressive treatment of thrombus in the 1970s and 1980s and the early recognition and aggressive treatment of cardiogenic shock [3,4]. The concept of "early intervention" continues to evolve and new devices and potent pharmaceutical agents are being evaluated which may potentially interrupt an acute myocardial infarction and minimize the consequences of myocardial cell death.