heart attack treatment guidelines
Experts refine heart attack treatment guidelines
Recommendations stress importance of determining patients’ early risk
U.S. heart experts are calling for a two-pronged approach for treating patients with chest pain or heart attacks caused by partially blocked arteries, physicians groups said on Monday.
The new guidelines, issued jointly by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology, refine 2002 recommendations and suggest steps for treating patients based on better information about who might better benefit from medical versus invasive therapy.
“The guidelines are emphasizing the importance of determining risk early on in these patients and choosing the right therapy,? said Dr. Sidney Smith, a cardiologist at the University of North Carolina and a past president of the American Heart Association.
They differentiate between high-risk and low-risk patients with unstable chest pain or non-ST elevation myocardial infarction, a type of mild heart attack that does not cause changes on an electro-cardiogram.
“Medical therapy should be used in many patients with low-risk who previously might have been sent out without important attention to these therapies,? Smith said in a telephone interview.
Read about Testing and prevention by clicking above.
heart attack guidelines

Leave a Reply